


Gilded Cage

by Jcapasso916



Category: Supernatural
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-29
Updated: 2016-06-05
Packaged: 2018-07-11 00:50:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 25
Words: 39,556
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7017502
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jcapasso916/pseuds/Jcapasso916
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Sam goes off the rails after Dean goes to hell, Gabriel finds the best way he can manage to stop it. Trapping Sam on his own private tropical island. Too bad Sam doesn't really like that idea.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Gabriel scowled as he watched Sam completely self-destruct after the loss of his brother. It was like Mystery Spot all over again. He’d told the idiotic hunter that he wouldn’t be able to save his brother. That he would have to learn to go on without him, but Sam didn’t listen. He had hoped that some part of his speech at the end had sunk in. Gabriel hated actually being blunt, so knowing that even that didn’t help was driving him crazy. The worst part was the fact that so far the apocalypse still seemed to be on track. He would have to try to find another way to stop it. 

Once Sam had his first tasted of demon blood, Gabriel started to panic. He was running out of time. He would have to go the heavy-handed route. This wouldn’t be fun at all. After Sam fell asleep that night, Gabriel transferred him to his new gilded cage. The only place that he could successfully hold the hunter while at the same time keeping anyone else, heaven or hell, from finding him. Unfortunately, it also happened to be his own personal hiding spot, which meant that he would have to deal with an enraged hunter. 

Sam knew as soon as his mind reached awareness that he wasn’t in the same place he had fallen asleep, and he went into full alert mode, but made sure not to show any signs of it in case he was being watched. He took a quick inventory of what he knew. He wasn’t in any pain. He didn’t seem to be restrained. He was in the most comfortable bed he’d ever been in. He was still wearing his sleeping clothes. He tried to make his movements look like he was just stirring in his sleep as he checked for the knife under his pillow. It was gone and he had confirmed the lack of restraints. 

He slowly blinked his eyes open and took in his surroundings. The first thing he saw was the canopy above the bed. Who the hell used canopy beds? The framing looked like bamboo and he glanced to the side to see curtains that were tied back all around the bed. His confusion mounted as he looked around the rest of the room to find himself alone, his bag sitting on top of a very ornate looking dresser to his right, a tall elegant wardrobe on the wall at the foot of the bed and when he turned to the left he saw a nice wing-backed chair and a small round table in front of a fireplace with small empty bookshelves to either side. Overall this looked like some super-fancy resort hotel room. 

He pulled out of bed and checked his bag. All of his stuff was there, weapons included, the knife from under his pillow sitting on top, almost like someone had packed it for him but just set it there so as not to go through his stuff. On the surface everything pointed to someone or something trying to be nice and helpful, but Sam knew better than to trust it. Just the waking up in a different place than he’d fallen asleep with no memory of being moved was enough to set off all his alarm bells. He tucked his gun and the demon knife into the waistband of his sweatpants and slid on his shoes as he ventured from the room to see what was going on. 

He crept silently through what he found was a large house. The room he woke up in was on the second floor. He took the winding staircase down slowly, checking for danger at every turn and finding a large living room at the bottom with a state of the art entertainment system and rather eccentric furniture. Oh it was all nice and probably very expensive, but it was like whoever did the decorating was color-blind as the room was filled with a combination of greens and oranges and reds. Sam was no interior decorator, but even he winced at the look of this place. 

He kept his back to the wall as skirted the edges of the room to the door that looked like it might lead outside. He needed to see where he was and find a way out of here. He opened the door slowly and gingerly and once he got a good look at what was on the other side, his jaw dropped and all thoughts of stealth and danger flew from his head as he looked out at the crystal blue ocean, topped with white as the waves crashed towards the pristine beach. The vision was completed with bright tropical trees and flowers. It looked like the textbook definition of paradise. He could even hear the birds singing from the trees. 

It was a few minutes before he had collected himself and was suddenly even more on the lookout for danger than he had been before. A beautiful untouched paradise like this shouldn’t even exist, not to mention who had brought him here and why? The only way to get more information was to actually go looking for it. Walking the beach wasn’t an option. It was far too open and exposed so he kept to the greenery, using the trees and shrubs for cover as he crept around. 

It was about an hour before he stumbled across anything other than nature and what he saw ignited a fire of pure anger in him. The damn trickster of all beings. He barely noticed the casual way the small man was walking the beach, throwing a Frisbee for a little black and white dog to fetch. Sam watched and followed for a few minutes, trying to make a plan of attack. Before long though he heard the trickster’s voice call out, “I know you’re there Sam. You might as well come out.”

Element of surprise ruined, the hunter did just that. “Send me back,” he ordered. 

“No,” Gabriel said almost amused. When he noticed the dog running towards Sam, he said, “Oreo! Come!” He didn’t want to take the chance of the hunter hurting the little guy in his anger. Oreo stopped in his tracks and came back to sit at Gabriel’s feet. 

Sam managed to ignore the cute little dog with some effort and keep his anger going. “Where am I and why am I here?”

“You’re on my private island and you’re here because you’re out of control and I won’t watch you destroy the world.”

Sam scoffed at the idea of destroying the world. There was only one thing that he wanted to destroy and that was the demon bitch Lilith. And of course any monsters that got in his way. He shouldn’t be surprised that was the world the demi-god wanted to save. He was a monster himself after all. “You can’t just keep me here.”

“Watch me,” Gabriel said smugly. 

“Hell I’ll swim away if I have to,” Sam threatened. 

“By all means,” Gabriel said gesturing to the water. “The nearest land mass is over a thousand miles away and the wards around the island stretch two hundred miles in every direction so you would have to go at least that far before you could find a boat and that’s even if the rare chance that there is one in the right area at the right time. May I also point out that no human has ever swam even half that far. And also consider the fact that we are in tropical waters and the wards preventing things like jellyfish, sharks, barracuda, piranha and other dangerous sea life only extend ten miles, but I’m sure a young guy like you in such good shape could make it that far. But hey,” he gave an unconcerned shrug. “If you wanna swim for it feel free.” 

Sam glared hard at the trickster, as if he could destroy him with a look alone prompting the infuriating being to laugh and say. “Hate to break it to you kid, but looks really can’t kill.” Sam grabbed his phone from his pocket only to find no signal. “Do you see any cell towers around?” Gabriel asked amused. “By the way, even if you had a satellite phone, the wards would block the signal on that too. Little flaw that powerful magic has. No internet connection either, but hey, there is a big library that you’re welcome to.”

“So you’re saying the only way out of here is to die?” Sam asked incredulously. 

“Bingo!” 

“Better that than being your prisoner,” Sam said heatedly. 

Gabriel just rolled his eyes and chuckled. “Yes better death than living in the lap of luxury in paradise. Whatever was I thinking? I’ll just leave you to it shall I?” he said strolling of down the beach, Oreo following obediently behind him.


	2. Chapter 2

Sam decided that killing himself probably wasn’t the best way to handle this. So he was on an island cut off from all contact with the outside world. It may seem hopeless but there was always a way. It couldn’t be that hard to build a boat. He headed back into the woods to find some materials. He decided that due to the lack of any proper tools to build a boat with, it would be easier to try a raft. His first priority though, was to sharpen a stake and add some blood so that he would have it read the next time the trickster showed his face. That done, he grabbed a few different types of wood and brought them out to the water to test and see which ones would float. 

He had to go out a little way to get enough water to have a good test and quickly found that sweatpants were a royal pain when soaked. He stripped them off so that he was just in his boxers and t-shirt. It was nearly lunchtime by the time he had settled on the best wood to make his raft from and as he was headed back to shore, pulling the small log behind him, he found the trickster standing there with a tray of food and drink. “Don’t get used to it, but I figured your first day here I could be nice and help you out,” he said as he handed it over, only to dodge a stake for his efforts. He rolled his eyes and laughed. “Nice try Samsquatch, but it’s never gonna happen.” He turned and started walking back down the beach. 

Sam just scowled at his back and looked suspiciously at the food. Between skipping breakfast and all the work he’d done, he was famished. He didn’t trust the trickster not to have done something to it though. In the end, he decided it didn’t matter. If the trickster wanted him dead there were far easier ways to do it, and anything else he could deal with. He was surprised to find that the food was actually good and didn’t do anything untoward to him, and he was quickly back to work. 

He barely noticed when it started getting darker and before he knew it he could barely see anything. He looked up to see that it was a cloudy night and there was almost no moon. Obviously there weren’t any city lights or anything to light the way either and he sighed frustrated. It looked like he was stuck sleeping out here. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to go back to the house anyway, but now the option was taken away from him. 

No sooner than the thought had crossed his mind the trickster was standing next to him. “I’m not gonna keep waiting on you, ya know. If you want dinner you’re going to have to come back to the house and get it yourself. By the way, it gets pretty dark here at night so it might be a good idea to make your way back while you can still see.”

“Obviously,” Sam snapped as he swung the stake again to meet nothing but air. 

“Feel free to follow me back if you want to, or stay out here. Doesn’t matter to me,” Gabriel said with a shrug. “Oh and if you want that raft to float you’re gonna need to close up those gaps. Just FYI.”

Sam watched suspiciously as the trickster started to walk away. He had to choose quickly before he lost sight of him. In the end, his pride wouldn’t allow him to follow. Even his hunger wasn’t enough to propel him back to that house. He managed to find a softish spot on the ground and hoped that there wasn’t anything out here that would kill him. He was sure the trickster would have mentioned it if there were like he did with the water, but he still kept his gun in hand and slept with one eye open just in case. 

It was almost an hour later before he gave up and laid down on the partially built raft. He hadn’t considered the insects and he hoped that being on the raft would at least cut down on the number that kept crawling all over him. With any luck at least it would take care of the biters. It did help, but not enough as by the time he woke up the next morning he had dozens of bug bites over his face, arms, and legs. By the time he had noticed the hour, it was too dark for him to make it back to the beach to find his sweat pants so his legs had been just as exposed. They wouldn’t have helped his face and arms, but it still would have been better than it currently was. 

Sam managed to find some bananas and coconuts for breakfast and he learned just how difficult it was to crack a coconut, but he was so insanely thirsty and he knew there was juice in there. It wasn’t until the fourth one when he managed to open it without losing all the liquid. That done, he made his way back to the beach to see if he could find his pants only to find that they were gone. He wasn’t sure if the tide had taken them or if the trickster had, but it didn’t exactly matter. He sighed and made his way back to where he had been working on his raft. He saw what the trickster meant about the gaps and it took forever before he was able to use his knife to get the grooves just right to hold the vines tying them together. 

Gabriel popped in invisibly a few times over the course of the day to watch the hunter. He saw the bites all over his body and just laughed. It was his own fault. He’d given Sam every chance to come back to the nice safe house, but if he wanted to be stubborn, so be it. He had to give it to Sam though. The raft looked pretty good. Might even make it if the trip were along a river or a lake. He was definitely resourceful. He watched as the hunter ate bananas and coconuts and drank the coconut milk over the course of the day. He couldn’t last like that forever, but he was making a pretty good go of it. 

Gabriel was only a little surprised when Sam didn’t come back to the house that night. Apparently he had decided that the bugs and hard raft made for better sleep than the plush bed he had here. Oh well. Gabriel hadn’t brought him here for the hunter’s well-being. He could do whatever he wanted. As long as he was here the world was safe. Lucifer would stay in the cage, the apocalypse wouldn’t kick off, and he wouldn’t have to watch his brothers kill each other. That was all that really mattered. 

 

Sam had slept horribly that night, but at least he’d managed to finish the raft before he couldn’t see anymore. Every inch of exposed skin was itching and burning. He was exhausted and hungry and thirsty, but he was ready to go. He knew that he would need supplies. It would take weeks, if not months to find either land or a boat. There was only one thing to do. He would have to sneak back to the house and see what he could rummage up. 

He hoped to get in and out without being seen, but as he slipped into the kitchen he found the trickster at the stove flipping pancakes, dressed in red silk boxers and a white tank top. He stopped a moment at the odd sight of the demi-god actually cooking rather than just snapping up stuff. “Go ahead and grab whatever you want. You’re welcome to stick around for breakfast if you want to,” he said without looking back. 

Sam narrowed his eyes suspiciously and kept one eye on the wily being as he slid around the kitchen grabbing canned foods and stacking them on the counter. “Don’t forget water. Can’t exactly drink sea water and it’s a long trip,” Gabriel reminded him. 

“I know,” Sam snarled. 

There were quite a few cases of bottled water stacked on the floor of the pantry. “There’s more in the garage if you think you need more,” Gabriel offered. 

“If you really wanted to help you’d just send me back,” Sam snapped angrily. 

Gabriel just shrugged in response. 

Sam had dragged the raft up to the house to make it easier to load and he grabbed some large mesh bags that he found while rummaging around and put all the canned food and water in them. He ran upstairs to get his bag only to find that it didn’t seem to have been touched in his absence. The first thing he did was change his clothes before grabbing his bag and heading back downstairs. 

“So the nearest landmass is the coast of Africa about twelve hundred miles that way,” Gabriel said pointing to the East. “But you’d have better luck running into a boat if you go that direction,” he said pointing northwest. 

“Screw you,” Sam snapped as he stormed out the door to the laughter of the demi-god.


	3. Chapter 3

Sam tied the mesh bags with the food and water to the sides of the raft and pushed it out to the water. Once he was about knee deep in the water he climbed on and started paddling with his makeshift paddles. That lasted all of three minutes before a large incoming wave flipped the whole raft backwards. Sam barely managed to grab his bag before he would have had to dive for it. He was glad that he’d thought to tie off the other bags. He righted the raft and tried again with the same results. It was only after the fifth time he was upended that he thought to rebalance the weight. 

He was far enough out now that he couldn’t touch the bottom so he treaded water as he moved the heavy mesh bags to the front of the raft, hoping that would give enough weight to keep it from being thrown backwards every time a wave came. It was slightly better, but it wasn’t until Sam had started leaning forward into the waves that he started managing to stay on the raft. 

There was still the occasional wave that hit at a bad angle and knocked him over, one of them causing him to lose his bag, but he still made it for another few hours like that before he gulped nervously as he saw a fin trailing in the water. It was a good distance away, but it was a very poignant reminder about the dangers in these waters. He’d apparently passed the ten-mile mark. He started paying a lot more attention to the waves and what direction they were coming from to keep from being knocked in the water again. There was a lot of spray coming off the water from the wind and the waves even if he hadn’t been dumped over multiple times that he would still be soaking wet. 

Gabriel kept his senses tuned to the hunter to follow his progress. He knew it was extremely unlikely that he would make it out of here, but if anyone was going to do the impossible it would be Sam Winchester. Not that it was that onerous to keep an eye on him. It was really only a vague sense in the back of his mind so he could continue on with his business unimpeded in the meantime. He had been paying close attention at the beginning though, not out of concern of course, but mainly because it had been beyond amusing to watch. He had to admire Sam’s tenacity though. 

Once the hunter managed to get the hang of it and was ending up in the water less and less, he soon grew bored and pushed that awareness back to the back of his mind and took Oreo out for a walk on the beach. He tuned back in when Sam saw the shark. If he asked to come back, Gabriel would go get him, but he didn’t. Stubborn hunter. Gabriel could see him getting more and more nervous though. Gabriel threw the Frisbee for Oreo for a while before the little dog was distracted by the water and Gabriel laughed as he watched the dog bark and chase the waves and he snapped up a hammock and cocktail to relax. 

Once lunchtime came around he snapped up the needed supplies and grilled burgers on the beach, sharing with the dog of course and once they had eaten their fill, he started hiking through the woods to his hidden waterpark at the center of the island. As they started getting close Oreo started yipping and hopping around, tail wagging furiously until Gabriel chuckled and said, “Go on boy.”

By the time Gabriel, at his leisurely pace, entered the clearing, Oreo was already in the puppy pool and had his teeth wrapped around the rawhide attached to the machine as he was pulled around in circles and the jets of water sprayed over him. Gabriel headed for his area and had some fun on the various waterslides and swings for a few hours before he cursed and disappeared. 

 

Sam was feeling pretty good about his chances. It had been over half a day since he’d ended up in the water and he seemed to be getting somewhere. Being someone who wasn’t very familiar with nautical things, he didn’t realize that he was completely lost. It hadn’t dawned on him that just because he had started out in a particular direction didn’t mean he was still going that way due to the currents and lack of anything to find his way by. Failing that knowledge, he was feeling pretty good about his trek so far. Right up until he noticed a larger wave coming from the right. Judging by the clouds in that direction it looked like a storm was brewing. That wasn’t good. He managed to get the raft turned, but it wasn’t enough as it quickly capsized. 

The wave had apparently brought a school of jellyfish with it as well as Sam suddenly felt a stinging pain going through his leg as it completely cramped up. He kicked with his good leg and used his arms to try and drag his way to the surface, but it wasn’t long before one of his arms was in the same condition. He reflexively screamed in pain breathing in some water and he started to panic. The final blow came to his stomach and he knew he was done for. His good leg and arm kept moving, but he was steadily sinking and his vision was starting to fade as well. 

The next thing he knew he was coughing up water and gasping for breath as he laid on the beach. He managed to open his eyes enough to see the trickster, also soaking wet, kneeling beside him hands moving over Sam’s bad arm, leg and stomach as the feeling slowly crept back into them, first burning and then that faded as well. Once that part felt good, the trickster splayed his hand flat against Sam’s chest and suddenly Sam was expelling sea water from his lungs and the trickster rolled him to the side so he didn’t choke on it again. 

Gabriel didn’t dare use his angelic healing. He had no idea how much the hunter knew about pagans, but he was pretty sure he could figure out that such instantaneous healing was beyond most pagan gods, so he used his slower pagan healing abilities. It meant a little more pain and discomfort for the hunter, but that didn’t bother him. It was Sam’s own fault he was in this mess to begin with after all. He’d live and he should be damn grateful for it. 

Sam was grateful, for all of two seconds before he realized who it was that he was feeling grateful to and why he was in that situation to begin with, so he didn’t even thank the trickster before he said, “You couldn’t have grabbed the raft too?” 

“So sorry your highness. I was too busy pulling you out of the water and trying to save your life. Maybe next time I’ll let you die and grab the raft instead,” Gabriel snapped. He had been trying to make things easier on the hunter but this was the last straw. “The house is that way if actually decide to make use of my generous hospitality,” he said sarcastically as he disappeared back to the water park to retrieve his dog. 

Oreo didn’t like Gabriel’s other methods of travel so he took his time walking back, and just barely made it before dark. He rolled his eyes at the dirty dish on the counter from where Sam had apparently had a sandwich. He could sense the hunter upstairs sleeping in the room that Gabriel had set aside for him. He wasn’t surprised really. Between the horrible sleep he’d gotten outside and all the exertion, not to mention nearly dying, it was no wonder he was out like a light. Gabriel snapped his fingers and cleaned up the mess Sam had left, before plopping in front of the television.


	4. Chapter 4

As morning rolled around, Gabriel would usually be heading out to dish out some just desserts, but he wasn’t really comfortable leaving the island with Sam here just yet. If the hunter managed to get himself in trouble again while Gabriel was in a situation he couldn’t get away from quickly, it wouldn’t be good at all. He couldn’t stand to be cooped up in this house for much longer though so he headed out to walk along the cliffs at the south side of the island. He was slightly worried about leaving Oreo with a very volatile hunter, but he didn’t think Sam would go so far as to hurt an innocent animal. Besides, the dog was sleeping and he didn’t want to wake him up. Sam was sleeping too and Gabriel would try not to be gone for too long. He just loved watching the sunrise from the cliffs. 

Sam woke up, feeling not as well rested as he should have. It took a moment for him to realize that he just wanted some demon blood. It had kept him feeling so strong that now that it was leaving his system he was feeling weak and tired in comparison. That should have concerned him, but at the moment all he could think about was getting out of this gilded cage the damn trickster had trapped him in. By the time he had descended the stairs, he lit on an idea. If he could piss him off enough that he wouldn’t want him around, maybe he would actually send him back. 

It was this thinking that led to Sam trashing the living room. The first thing he did was grab the seventy inch flatscreen and yank it from the wall delighting in the sound as it smashed. Then he grabbed the bluray player and spiked it hard and it fell into pieces. He continued with the video game systems and then the surround sound speakers and the stereo system. He swiped his arms across the shelves holding all the dvds, making them crash to the floor before stomping on them. It was about this time that he felt something latch onto his pant leg and growl and he instinctively kicked at it. When he heard the yelp, he froze, realizing that he had just kicked a dog and only then remembered the dog the trickster had been playing with the first time he saw him on the beach. 

No sooner than that thought crossed his mind, he saw an enraged demigod standing in the center of the room. He waved his hand and Sam slammed, none to gently, into the wall suspended halfway between the floor and the ceiling as if he were a fly stuck on fly paper. The dread he felt was likely similar too. He watched, not daring to speak, as the trickster knelt next to the whimpering puppy and spoke in a soft voice. “It’s okay buddy. I’ve got you. We’ll get you all fixed up.” Gabriel placed a hand over Oreo’s midsection and Sam could just see the blue glow coming from his hands before Oreo jumped up and started licking his face, pulling a tense smile from the trickster. 

Only once he was sure that Oreo was okay did he spin to Sam, glad to see the horrified expression on his face. “Now I am going to say this only once and you better listen up,” he started in a low dangerous voice. “You can have as many five-year-old temper tantrums as you want. I don’t give a flying fuck how much of my stuff you destroy. Hell you can burn the whole damn house to the ground and I’ll just fix it, but if you touch my dog again, I ‘will’ kill you. Without hesitation. Is that clear?” 

Sam nodded fearfully and the trickster waved his hand again and Sam fell to the ground. Only then did Sam find the words to speak. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize…I mean…I just felt something on my pant leg and heard a growl and I just kicked…I didn’t mean...I didn’t know it was him. I’m sorry. I would never have hurt him if I’d known.”

Gabriel couldn’t help but soften a bit at the explanation. If Sam hadn’t been in such a temper at the time, Oreo probably wouldn’t have reacted the way he did, and Sam probably wouldn’t have kicked on instinct and certainly not so hard, so the hunter was definitely still at fault, but overall it had been an accident and Sam did seem genuinely remorseful, so he would let it go with one more warning. “Then you better start paying better attention when you’re having your little hissy fits.” As Sam was nodding profusely Gabriel snapped his fingers and everything in the room reappeared back in perfect condition exactly where it had been before Sam had gotten ahold of it. “Come Oreo,” Gabriel said gently as he walked towards the door as his dog obediently bounded after him. 

Only once they were gone did Sam let out the breath he’d been holding and collapse on the couch. He definitely wasn’t going to be having another of those ‘hissy fits’ as the trickster called it. It seemed that breaking his stuff was no more than a minor annoyance anyway. The only thing he could find to get a rise out of him was hurting the dog and there was no way Sam was gonna hurt an innocent dog, even if he would survive it. He felt horrible about this one and it had mostly been an accident. To actually do so intentionally…well that would make Sam the real monster here. 

It was a good hour before he realized that his shaking was more than just the adrenaline and he found sweat pouring from him. He felt sick to his stomach and all of his muscles were aching. Had the trickster done something to punish him for hurting the dog? Not that Sam wouldn’t have deserved it, but some warning might have been nice so he could at least have made it to his bed. He tried to stand, only to find that his legs wouldn’t hold him and he crashed to the floor pulling the coffee table over on top of him, fist breaking the glass that also showered down on him digging into his skin. He wasn’t sure how long he had lay there, unable to really move other than the trembling, before he heard the door open. 

Around lunchtime, once Gabriel had calmed down after a nice relaxing remainder of his morning, he headed back to the house. If he was going to make lunch he may as well offer to share. As he opened the door he caught sight of the corner of the overturned and shattered coffee table and rolled his eyes at the hunter’s childishness as he snapped his fingers and righted it. He didn’t realize that something was wrong until he heard the whimpers coming from the other side of the couch. He stepped forward enough to see around the corner and gasped at the sight. 

Sam’s eyes were glazed over and he looked barely conscious as the sweat beaded on his skin. Gabriel could tell that the carpet was moist underneath him meaning he’d been lying there for a while. His skin was flushed indicating fever, and sure enough, as Gabriel kneeled next to him he could feel the heat radiating from his body. It was the fact that his temperature was far higher than a human should be able to survive that clued Gabriel in on what was happening and unfortunately this was something he couldn’t heal. He would actually have to get the hunter through it. 

“Come on kiddo. Let’s get you up to bed,” he said lifting the hunter effortlessly. He wasn’t sure how the demon blood burning through Sam’s system would react to his grace so he didn’t dare fly them up there. The only difficulty he had wasn’t in the weight. It was in the size. He had one arm under Sam’s knees and the other under his back. He managed to shift him so that Sam’s head was resting on his shoulder, but he had to fold him to where his knees were nearly against his chest to get him up the stairs. 

Sam wasn’t completely aware of what was going on. He heard the trickster talking to him, but couldn’t make out the words. It wasn’t until his head came to rest on the smaller man’s shoulder that he realized that the demi-god was actually carrying him. Like a baby. “M’fine,” Sam tried to say but it didn’t come out very inteligible.

They were halfway up the stairs before Gabriel heard the slurred words. He wasn’t surprised that it had taken so long for things to register with Sam and he let out a slight chuckle. “Sure you are kid.”


	5. Chapter 5

He managed to get Sam settled in his bed and the hunter curled up on his side with a groan. Gabriel called up a bottle of water from the kitchen. The first thing they needed to do was replace some of the fluids that Sam was losing. After the third time Sam dropped it before he could even manage to open it, Gabriel sighed. It looked like they were going to have to do this the hard way. Gabriel helped Sam sit up, arm supporting his head as he tilted the bottle to the hunter’s lips. It seemed that the speech delay also translated into a swallowing delay so it ended up being Gabriel putting a little water in Sam’s mouth, waiting a few seconds for him to swallow it, rinse and repeat. He knew that Sam would need at least this full bottle, if not more after that so he kept going. 

It wasn’t until he heard Oreo whining at his feet that he realized he had completely forgotten about lunch so he did something he rarely did. He just snapped up a nice tough steak for the pup, already cooked. He didn’t technically need food himself. He just enjoyed eating, so he didn’t bother with anything for him and Sam definitely wasn’t in any shape to eat anything. 

The first bottle of water was almost gone when Sam started vomiting. Thankfully he had managed to turn to the side away from Gabriel or he would have been even more annoyed. He just gave a weary sigh and snapped his fingers cleaning up the mess. Maybe he had given him too much water too fast. Once Sam was done wretching, Gabriel got him laid back down and went to leave and give him a chance to rest. Before he made it out the door though, Sam started thrashing and crying out. “What now?” Gabriel muttered as he turned back to the hunter. 

It was his cries of, “No…don’t…please…” and the way his eyes were wide open, but not focusing on anything Gabriel could see that clued him in on the fact that Sam was hallucinating. He pinched the bridge of his nose. The hunter was rapidly turning into more trouble than he was worth. He had no problem with letting Sam kill himself if he wanted to. He had no problem with killing Sam himself for hurting a defenseless animal. Leaving him to suffer alone or killing him just to get rid of the burden however was a whole different story. Even if it was Sam’s own fault that he was sick. 

Gabriel reached out to try and soothe his mind into sleep. He could definitely use the rest. It wasn’t until he started seizing that Gabriel remembered his concerns about using his grace with the demon blood burning through him. It seemed those concerns had been founded. Gabriel snapped up a cloth to put in Sam’s mouth and turned him to the side while he rode it out. Once it was finally over it seemed that it had done the trick after all as Sam was out like a light. That didn’t mean he was going to risk trying that again though.

He had no idea how long this was going to last, and he knew that being cooped up inside for long periods of time drove him insane so he took the opportunity while Sam was sleeping to get out for a while. He normally would have slapped a tracker on the hunter to let him know if there were any changes, but that was obviously a bad idea so he just added an alert to the room that would notify him if there was any sound or movement, shooed Oreo out so he wouldn’t set it off, closed the door, and headed outside. 

He managed to get about two hours of fresh air before he was back to Sam’s side as the hallucinations were back and apparently worse, if the way the hunter was gouging at his arms was anything to go by. He was having to make modifications to his normal way of doing things left and right with this mess as usually he would have just used his powers to hold Sam still, but instead he snapped up actual restraints and tied him down the hard way. 

It passed about an hour later. Gabriel could tell when Sam actually looked at him rather than at nothing and his struggles against the restraints turned from frantic to just nervous, and he quickly went to undo them. “Sorry about that. You were hallucinating and hurting yourself. Come on. Let’s get you some more water.”

It turned out that Sam’s hands were still shaking too much to drink it himself, though his fever was down a bit, so Gabriel shifted him again, supporting his head which Sam was still too weak to hold up and helped him sip the water. It did go quicker this time at least. “Please,” he croaked. “Sorry…I hurt…dog…make it stop…please.”

That’s when Gabriel realized that Sam thought that he was punishing him for what happened to Oreo and he ignored the stab of…something…that accompanied that assumption. “Sorry kiddo. This one isn’t my doing. I can’t make it stop. We’re just gonna have to ride it out.”

“Wh…what…s’wrong…w’me?” Sam slurred. 

“Apparently you’ve had a bit of a demon blood habit. You’re going through withdrawal,” Gabriel told him bluntly. He could see the hunter’s brows furrow as he tried to make sense of that revelation. “Don’t worry about it right now. Let’s just get you some more water and see if you can get some more rest yeah?” When Sam didn’t protest, Gabriel helped him finish the bottle of water and watched as Sam drifted off to sleep.

The next twenty-four hours continued much the same way. An hour or two of sleep, and hour or two of hallucinations, brief conversation and fluids, then repeat the process. It wasn’t until the next evening that something really changed. When Gabriel reached out to check Sam’s temperature with his hand the hunter flinched away and looked at him warily. “What are you doing?” he asked almost clearly. 

“Checking your temperature,” Gabriel said rolling his eyes. 

“You can’t just…you know…” he made hand gestures that Gabriel supposed were supposed to indicate his powers. 

“The remaining demon blood that is fighting for control of your body doesn’t react well to my powers. Last time I tried to help you like that you went into seizures.”

“Oh,” Sam said still watching warily as the trickster reached towards him. 

“Much better. You’re back down around 102. You should be good in another day or two. Think you can manage some water on your own?” he asked. 

“On my…” Sam furrowed his brow as the memories came rushing back to him. The trickster carrying him up the stairs, supporting him and helping him drink, untying his restraints as he explained that the hallucinations were making him hurt himself, checking his temperature, and even tucking him into bed. Sam even remembered throwing up on him and the trickster just snapped his fingers and cleaned it up. He immediately filed that under things to forget all about until a time when I’m able to process them and just looked at the demi-god and said, “Yeah. I…I should be.”

“Good,” Gabriel said handing Sam a bottle of water. There was still a bit of spilling, but Sam managed okay. “If you think you’re up to it maybe some soup or crackers? You haven’t had anything but water in two days.” 

“I…yeah…I think so,” Sam said tentatively. 

“Okay. I’ll go make some. Just say something if you need anything. I have the room bugged for the time being.” When he saw Sam start to say something. “Just while you’re sick. As soon as you’re well I’ll remove it. I have no interest in whatever kind of debauchery you get up to in your own room,” he joked as he headed out the door. 

Sam just huffed and sat back crossing his arms. He still felt like hell, but for the little bit he could remember from before it seemed to be a lot better. That’s when it dawned on him that the trickster was going to ‘make’ him soup. Not just snap it up. Was it for the same reason that he couldn’t use his powers on him right now? Or did he just like to cook? Sam remembered him cooking pancakes that one morning. 

It was about twenty minutes before the trickster came back into the room with a tray holding a bowl of chicken soup and some saltine crackers. Sam grabbed the spoon and, rather messily due to his still shaking hands, managed to start eating. “So all this is because I was going through some kind of withdrawal from demon blood?” Sam asked between bites and he saw the trickster nod. “Would it have killed you to go get me some more?” he grumbled. 

It was all Gabriel could do not to overturn the entire tray in the ungrateful little brat’s lap. “No. It wouldn’t have, but it might have killed you. I’m starting to think maybe that might be a better idea for all the gratitude I get for saving your sorry ass.”

Sam glared right back at him. “You kill my brother right in front of me a thousand times, make me live a whole extra six months without him, while playing with me the entire time, and then, once he really is gone, you kidnap me, take me away from my entire life and hold me prisoner and a little healing and hand-holding while I’m sick is supposed to make up for it?” 

“From your point of view, I guess not, but would a simple ‘thank you’ kill you?” 

“Thank you,” Sam said not very sincerely, but he had made an effort at least. 

Gabriel just nodded and headed out. “Just say something if you need anything else. You have a couple more bottles of water on the nightstand. Try to get some rest.”


	6. Chapter 6

Sam managed to finish most of the soup and crackers and set the tray on the nightstand as he grabbed one of the water bottles. He spilled a little bit of it, but he was too tired to care as he lay back down and closed his eyes. Sleep took a little while to come though as two things kept turning over in his head. The tricksters claim that demon blood could kill him and the whole ‘from your point of view’ comment. He would have to ask about that tomorrow. 

The next morning, Gabriel was at the stove cooking up pancakes and bacon for himself and Oreo, and he had another pot of plain oatmeal going for Sam. He noticed Sam coming down the stairs, and kept one eye on him surreptitiously to make sure he didn’t fall. He didn’t look very steady on his feet, but he wasn’t going to help unless the hunter either asked, or really needed it. Sure enough about halfway down he lost his footing and Gabriel immediately appeared next to him and steadied him. 

Once Sam was steady on his feet again, and blushing, he said slightly testier than perhaps he should have, but not nearly as much so as he had in the past, “I’m fine. I got it.”

Gabriel just shrugged and in the next blink he was back at the stove. He flipped the pancake that had been abandoned and frowned when he saw it was a little blackened and then he flipped it onto the small plate on the counter. Oreo could have that one. He slid Sam’s oatmeal in front of him as the hunter made it to the table. “Thank you,” Sam managed to say. 

Gabriel actually smiled at him. “You’re welcome.” He frowned when he saw the gashes on Sam’s arms where they rested on the table. “I’ll heal those once you’re well enough to not react badly to my powers,” he offered. 

“Why?” Sam asked. 

“What do you mean why?” 

“Why are you doing this? I mean you’re holding me prisoner, but you’re saving my life, helping me when I’m sick, healing me when I’m hurt. I thought you hated me, but…”

“I told you why I’m keeping you here. The rest is just because you’re a decent human being and I’m not just going to watch you suffer and die if I can help it.”

“You watched me suffer in Mystery Spot,” he said accusingly. 

“To teach you a lesson. To try and avoid having to do this,” he said. “I didn’t leave your brother dead did I? And I never intended to.”

Sam assumed the lesson’s purpose had been to keep him away from the demon blood so his next question was, “You said the demon blood could kill me? I didn’t even realize that it was addictive.”

Gabriel held out a hand and a book came zooming into it. “Some convalescence reading for you.” He handed the book to Sam. 

Sam looked at it. ‘The effects of Demonic Blood on the Human Soul.’ He wasn’t even sure what to say to that. The fact that the trickster apparently had a book like that in his library, the fact that the blood could affect his soul, the fact that the trickster was assigning reading, and the fact that the book was so thick, were all vying for attention in his mind. 

“A lot of that will probably go over your head, but I think you’ll be able to pick up the gist of it,” Gabriel told him. 

“Over my head? Just because I’m a hunter doesn’t mean I’m not smart,” he said petulantly. People always seemed to assume that just because he had brawn, that meant that he didn’t have brains too. 

“I’m sure you are Samsquatch, but the intricate nature of the soul is very tricky business. Smart you may be, but you are still limited by your tiny human mind.”

Sam huffed at that, but saw no point in arguing against such a solid fact. Whether or not his ‘tiny human mind’ could understand it would remain to be seen. He changed the tact of the conversation while he finished breakfast though. “So now that I’m up and around you can remove the bug from my room.”

“If you’re sure. Just keep in mind, once it’s gone you could scream at the top of your lungs and I won’t hear you so you might want to keep it there until you’re a little closer to normal.” At Sam’s curious look he explained. “All the bedrooms are soundproof. I tend to have multiple overnight guests and they sometimes get a little pissy when they can overhear things,” he said with a waggle of his eyebrows. 

“I so did not need to know that,” Sam groaned. 

“In that case, you might want to stay out of the basement,” Gabriel chuckled. He knew that eventually Sam’s insatiable curiosity would send him down there anyway and Gabriel made a mental note to rig up some kind of camera to catch his expression when he did.

“I’m not even going to ask.” Sam tried to remember how they got on this subject. “How about if I rest downstairs during the day, and I can go up to my room at night. That way if I don’t come down for breakfast you can come check on me?” Sam wasn’t sure why the bug in his room was bothering him so much. He just knew that he really wanted it gone. 

“Sure thing.” Gabriel snapped his fingers. “There. Your room is clean.”

It wasn’t until the trickster said it that Sam realized he had referred to it as his room. He realized that he was actually starting to get comfortable here and he scowled. He would wait until he was well before he started bugging the demi-god to let him leave again though. He finished the rest of his breakfast in silence before hauling himself over to the couch and sitting tiredly at one end. 

“You should lay down. I’ll be outside with Oreo anyway,” Gabriel said as he headed towards the front door whistling for the dog. 

Sam just shrugged. He wasn’t going to complain. He still felt horribly wrung out. He lay down and opened the book and started reading. He didn’t put the book down, not even when a peanut butter sandwich was pushed into his hand a few hours later. He just ate the sandwich absentmindedly and kept reading. The trickster had been right. Most of it went over his head, but what he could understand made him sick to his stomach. The way it described the demon blood eating away at the soul until it made the person little more than a demon. Apparently that was where the powers came from. They were never Sam’s powers. They were always demon powers. The demon blood didn’t make him stronger. It just gave him access to their powers at the expense of his own soul. 

When the trickster pulled him out of his thoughts for dinner, he just said weakly, “I’m not hungry.”

“You really should eat something.”

“How am I supposed to eat after…after this,” he said waving the book like it had personally offended him. 

Gabriel shrugged unconcerned. “If it makes you feel better I caught you before any real damage was done. You’ve got a bit of singeing around the edges, but your soul is intact and as bright as ever.”

“You can see my soul?” Sam asked in shock. 

“Of course. I am a god after all,” he said rolling his eyes. That was one ability that gods and archangels shared. 

“And it’s…okay?” he asked hopefully. 

“Yup,” Gabriel chirped. “Now are you gonna eat or does Oreo get extra dinner tonight?” 

Sam blinked and just now noticed that the dog was eating the same thing they were, just in smaller portions. He wasn’t sure how healthy that was, but it wasn’t his place to say so. He felt a little better about the state of his soul, so he would try and choke something down before he went upstairs to pass out. He mostly picked at his food and managed to not flinch when the trickster reached across the table to put a hand on his forehead. 

“You should be back to normal by tomorrow,” he said. Sam only had a very slight fever now. “I’ll heal your arms up in the morning.” Sam just nodded in response.


	7. Chapter 7

Gabriel headed out the next morning to watch the sunset from the cliffs as usual, confident that Sam knew better than to mess with Oreo again. When he returned he couldn’t help but laugh at the sight of the hunter sitting cross-legged on the floor holding out a piece of broccoli and trying to coax the puppy out from under the table. 

Sam scrambled to his feet. “Sorry. I just…He was afraid of me and I didn’t want him to be.” He was pretty sure that when the trickster said not to touch his dog he meant not to hurt him, but he wasn’t a hundred percent certain. 

“You’re good Sammich, but he’ll never come out for broccoli. Try this instead.”

“Licorice?” Sam curled up his nose as he took the long string from the demi-god’s hand. He had been trying to give him something halfway healthy. Sure enough though as he glanced back at the dog under the table he had perked up at the sight of the licorice. 

“I’ll leave you two to get acquainted,” the trickster laughed as he headed upstairs. 

Sam sat back down on the floor. “You want this?” he held out a piece of the licorice to the dog who inched forward warily, snatched it out of Sam’s hand and retreated back underneath the table to eat it. “Come on boy. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you,” he said sadly. As much as he hated the trickster, the dog was adorable and he felt terrible about what had happened. The fact that the dog was afraid of him broke his heart. “Please?” He held out another piece of licorice and Oreo inched forward again grabbed it and started to back up but didn’t go quite as far. It was progress at least. 

Sam got the dog to take one more piece of licorice, but he didn’t get any closer before the trickster came back downstairs. “Sorry to interrupt your bonding, but Oreo needs to go out now.” Sam nodded and when the trickster went to the door and whistled, Oreo bounded right past Sam and out the door. Somehow the fact that the dog loved the monster and hated him just made Sam feel worse, despite knowing how ridiculous that was. 

When they didn’t come back again, Sam decided to take a walk. Get the lay of the land a little more and maybe he could find a way out of here. He knew that he was still recovering, so he shouldn’t overdo it so he decided he would make it a leisurely walk and he would start heading back either after two hours or when he started getting tired, whichever came first. He started walking the opposite way down the beach than they usually did. After about twenty minutes of walking he came across the cliffs and couldn’t help the gasp. The view was amazing from up here. He had noticed the incline, but it had been so gradual he couldn’t believe how high they were. He thought he saw some caves down there but when he leaned over to get a better look he started to lose his footing and he stumbled backwards, falling on his ass. It was better than falling over the edge at least. He’d never hear the end of it if the trickster had to save him again. It didn’t even dawn on Sam that the trickster not saving him didn’t even enter into his mind. 

He started walking again, taking in the sights. His eyes were taking in every detail. Even the smallest thing might help. He began forming an idea as he saw the rocks and logs that were washed up on the beach. That would definitely qualify as overdoing it though and the last thing he wanted was a relapse that would put him at the trickster’s mercy again. He would worry about that tomorrow if he was still feeling good. It was another hour of walking and he was just getting ready to turn back when he ran across the trickster lounging in a hammock with some sort of fruity drink with a little umbrella in a coconut shell with a swirly straw. Sam couldn’t resist the urge to roll his eyes. 

“Sam-a-lam! What brings you out on such a beautiful day?” he joked. 

“Just getting the lay of the land for when I make my escape,” Sam said in a light tone despite the fact that he was completely serious. 

“That sounds like fun,” Gabriel chuckled. 

“It will be when I’m back home.”

“More fun than this? Ha. I think not.” 

“Maybe not to you,” Sam snapped. 

“Perhaps I should get you a dictionary. I don’t think ‘fun’ means what you think it means.”

“Quoting The Princess Bride? Really?” 

“When the shoe fits,” Gabriel said amusedly. 

“Whatever. I’m going back to the house,” Sam said annoyed. 

“As you wish,” Gabriel said with a laugh. 

“Fuck off,” Sam retorted just making the trickster laugh harder. 

“Hey Sammykins?” Gabriel called after him and when the hunter spun around with a glare he said, “It’s only fifteen minutes to the house if you go that way.”

Only Sam’s exhaustion could override his pride and have him turning around to go back the way the trickster had indicated. He scowled at him the whole way and couldn’t resist the urge to kick sand at him as he passed. 

Gabriel rolled his eyes through his laughter when Sam kicked the sand at him and just snapped his fingers removing the sand from both his person and his drink. 

By the time Sam got back to the house he was too tired to do anything but collapse on the couch. For lack of anything better to do he turned on the television. He hadn’t meant to fall asleep, but was woken up by a wet nose pressing against his hand where it was hanging towards the floor. He jumped and looked around in time to see Oreo scampering away and he sighed heavily. So much for getting the dog to like him. That was when he realized that the trickster was puttering around the kitchen. “Is it lunchtime already?” 

“Not quite. Gotta cook it first Samsquatch. Unless you’d rather have some raw meat for lunch, of course,” he quipped. 

Sam sighed. Always with the sarcasm. Damn trickster. Speaking of. “Hey do you have a name? I mean I’m getting kinda tired of thinking of you as the trickster.”

He chuckled. “Loki.”

Sam’s jaw dropped. “Loki. The Norse god of mischief? That Loki?” That explained why the stake hadn’t worked. They weren’t dealing with a demi-god. He was a full blown god. 

“Guilty,” he said looking back over his shoulder and winking at the hunter. 

“I…um…” Sam looked around for something to do to cover up his awe. “Do you mind if I try to give Oreo some more licorice?” 

“Go ahead. Just don’t spoil his lunch. He loves steak lo mein.”

Sam rolled his eyes at the idea of giving the dog people food, but then again, he was getting ready to give him licorice so he couldn’t exactly throw stones here. Sam pulled out one piece of licorice from the jar on the counter and tore it into pieces as he sat on the floor and put one in the palm of his hand and held it out. Sam could see the dog look back at Loki at the stove before he came forward a little more confidently than he had that morning and at the licorice out of his hand without running away. Sam smiled and dropped another piece there before reaching out to scratch him behind the ears, but as soon as Sam lifted his hand Oreo scampered away. “Come on boy. It’s okay. I won’t hurt you,” Sam coaxed. 

Gabriel sighed. He could hear the sadness in Sam’s voice. He gave the food one more stir to last it for a minute and went over and crouched behind Sam. “Oreo come,” he reached around the hunter to snap his fingers in front of Sam’s chest. The puppy bounded right over and pressed his head against Gabriel’s hand until he started scratching him, still reaching around Sam. 

Sam was afraid of scaring him off again if he touched him until Loki whispered, “Go ahead.” Sam shivered at the feel of the warm breath against his ear, but reached up to pet the little dog who thankfully didn’t run away. 

Gabriel got up then, placing a hand on Sam’s shoulder to brace himself and headed back to the stove. Much to Sam’s delight Oreo stayed with him, a little nervously, but he stayed just the same. Gabriel rolled his eyes at his own indulgence. He should have just let Sam make up to the dog himself.


	8. Chapter 8

Now that Loki had tagged Sam as ‘safe’ the little dog was more willing to give the hunter a chance, and by the time Loki was dishing out the food, Oreo’s tail was wagging and he was licking a laughing Sam’s face. That lasted right up until the clink of a plate hitting the floor and Sam almost wondered if the dog could teleport too, he disappeared so fast. Sam chuckled and got up off the floor, wandering over to the table to eat his own lunch and decided to try a different tact with Loki. “So if the whole reason for Mystery Spot and all was to keep me off the demon blood, why won’t you let me leave now? I mean, I’m clean now and now I know the dangers so it’s not like I’d ever risk it again.”

“No can do, Sammykins. You’re in the hot seat now. You’re going to be hunted the rest of your life by both heaven and hell, and eventually they will get you…if you’re out there. As long as you’re here they can’t touch you.”

“Heaven?” Sam asked torn between confusion, awe, and skepticism. 

“What you thought hell existed but not heaven?” Gabriel scoffed. 

“Why would heaven be after me? Because of the demon blood?” Sam asked. He was clean now, but he wondered if that was one of those unforgivable sins in their eyes. 

“Somewhat,” Gabriel sighed. He was going to have to do a least a little explaining if he wanted to have any peace. “Look here’s the deal. Heaven and Hell have one thing in common. They want the big prize fight between Michael and Lucifer, i.e. the apocalypse, to happen. They want different outcomes of course, but they all want the match-up. Humans are the crux though. The elder brother goes to hell and the younger brother drinks demon blood is basically the starting bell. They need you to get the caravan moving and as I mentioned. I happen to like this world, so you’re staying here wrapped up all nice and tight whether you like it or not.”

“And I don’t get a say in this at all?” Sam asked trying to wrap his head around all that. 

“You don’t get a say in whether or not you stay. Everything else I’m flexible. You want something we don’t have here already, just let me know.” 

So that’s what he’d meant by from Sam’s point of view. From Loki’s point of view, he was trying to save the world and, other than the trauma that Sam would never forget, he fixed everything he broke. “That doesn’t give you the right to keep me here against my will,” Sam argued and would continue to argue until he was blue in the face. If Loki was right and there were forces out there pushing for the apocalypse, then he needed to be out there fighting it. And that’s if all this was true at all and not just some trick to make him accept staying. 

“The right? Maybe not. But I have the power to do so, and you don’t have the power to stop me. So just suck it up and deal with it,” Loki told him with a smirk. 

Sam scowled at him before staring at his food. He was stabbing it a little harder than necessary as he turned over ideas in his head. It was a few minutes before something else dawned on him. “So why didn’t you stop Dean from going to hell then? Why intervene with me?”

“Once Dean’s deal was made I couldn’t stop it. I tried to intervene before that. To give him someone else to call before selling his damn soul, but you two were horribly stubborn.” Gabriel had even tuned into any prayers they may send, not that he could tell the hunter that. 

“You were killing people,” Sam defended themselves. 

“And if you had bothered to look beneath the surface you would have found that those people were better off dead. I mean come on. I tried to tip you off even with Mr. Morality, but you just completely ignored it. Do you have any idea how many girls he raped? Not all of them adults either. And Mr. I’m gonna torture animals in the name of science just because I can? There was nothing scientific about half of his experiments. He just got off on the torture and it wouldn’t have been long before he moved on to humans. That’s how I got Oreo. He was one of the few I was able to save.”

Sam just blinked at him in shock for a moment. He wasn’t sure he bought any of that as an excuse for murder, if he believed it at all. “What was…wrong with him?” Sam asked looking sympathetically at the puppy. 

“Two of his legs were broken, all four of his canine teeth were removed, and not surgically, he was given stage four stomach cancer and a brain tumor that caused him to be blind. The other animals I managed to save all headed back into the wild without looking back, but Oreo didn’t want to go. He followed me home and the rest is history.”

Sam nodded sadly. Now he knew why he had reacted so badly when Sam had hurt the dog. And why the dog had been so afraid. “So when I accidentally kicked him…”

“He equated you with pain just like he had the researcher. Three broken ribs will do that,” Gabriel said testily. 

“I…broke his ribs?” Sam asked swallowing around the lump in his throat. He knew he’d hurt him and that had been bad enough, but broken ribs. 

“Luckily for all of us, I keep a tracker on his health and well-being. If he had died before I got back, I wouldn’t have hesitated to kill you.”

“I might have let you,” Sam muttered almost inaudibly before bringing himself back to the conversation. “Wait a second…do you have a tracker like that on me too?” Sam remembered how he had been fished out of the ocean. 

“Sort of. Yours just tells me if you’re near death. I really don’t want to get an alert every time you have a hissy fit and hurt yourself.” 

Sam guessed he could live with that. It was only who it was that made it objectionable and if he couldn’t find a way out of here, he was going to have to learn to get along with him anyway. 

They were both finished with their lunch by this time. “So if we’re done with the interrogation?” he said with an amused half-smile and a quirk of his eyebrow. 

Sam nodded and the trickster god snapped his fingers and cleaned up the mess before heading out the door, Oreo on his heels. 

Sam just sat there thinking about everything he’d learned. At least he should have been. Instead all that kept running through his head was that last comment about the interrogation. Sam had been interrogating him and he had put up with it and even answered Sam’s questions openly. Why? As he said he had the power to make Sam do whatever he wanted. Was this more of the whole Sam’s a good guy thing? Did he really only hurt the bad ones? If so, did that really make him a bad guy?

Sam needed to get some fresh air. He headed outside and started walking through the woods this time. He’d already walked all the way around the island today. Sam’s mind went back to their very first meeting at the college. He thought about the way the professor died, thrown out the window by a ghost girl. If Loki was telling the truth about him, it seemed fitting. Then the guy eaten by the alligator. Again, if he really was torturing animals for fun, getting eaten by one was a good way to go out. 

Other than the two deaths, what had he done that was so bad. Sure, there were a lot of childish pranks on him and Dean, but that was just annoying. The thing with the pledgemaster was a little harsh, but maybe there was good reason for that. And then at the end, when they confronted him in the auditorium, he had tried to talk. He’d tried to explain and, dare he say, make friends. It wasn’t until he was surrounded and the stakes were brandished that he attacked and even then, it could have been much worse. No one was really hurt other than their pride and he probably could have killed them all where they stood without even lifting a finger. 

The next time they met was the real issue. Even knowing the reason for it, Sam didn’t know if he could ever look at the trickster and not see Dean dying over and over again. If he really couldn’t stop it and he wanted to teach Sam to let go so he didn’t ‘ring the apocalypse bell’ as he’d put it, then there were good reasons for him to do what he’d done. It could have been handled a lot better of course, but was he really in a position to judge someone for going about things the wrong way? 

Then there was the kidnapping him and bringing him here. His brother was dead and he was expected to just lounge on a beach while his killer was out there running around causing havoc? He couldn’t accept that. Maybe he couldn’t use the demon blood to get strong enough to take her out, but maybe he could make a deal with Loki. Maybe if he promised to stay and not make a fuss about it, Loki would be willing to help him kill her. 

Sam wandered through the woods as he was lost in thought, not really concerned about getting lost given the size of the island. He could just pick a direction to walk and end up on the beach before long and find his way back to the house from there. Before long he heard whooping laughter echoing through the trees and he furrowed his brow curiously. There was no question who it was. The real question was what he was doing. He headed towards the sound and as he emerged in the clearing his jaw dropped at the sight he was met with.


	9. Chapter 9

Gabriel was jumping from the high dive, seeing how many flips he could get in before hitting the water. Sure he could fly, but falling was a rush and he really loved the water, so he indulged himself. It wasn’t until he surfaced that he noticed Sam standing over by the trees, watching him. “Sam-a-lam! Did you come to play too?” he called out. 

Sam hadn’t finished looking around yet and when he saw the doggie pool and Oreo standing on a surfboard being pulled across the water he couldn’t help but burst into laughter. He had to admit it looked like fun and it wouldn’t kill him to have a little fun. Maybe it would even butter the little being up for his request, but, “I don’t have anything to swim in.” Seemed that wasn’t a problem though since the trickster snapped his fingers and there were a pair of swim trunks in his hand. Sam blinked at them a moment before he just shrugged and disappeared into the trees to change. 

He stepped back into the clearing, wearing nothing but the swim trunks and Gabriel wolf-whistled causing the hunter to roll his eyes. He started climbing the high dive right away he raised an eyebrow. “You might wanna start with something a little smaller,” he suggested. He knew that Sam wasn’t that experienced with water. When the hunter ignored him, he just shrugged and moved out of the way. 

Sam didn’t want to let Loki show him up. Not with something so human. It didn’t look that hard, so he ignored the warnings and went all the way to the top. He swallowed his nerves as he looked down at the little speck that was the trickster and jumped. He could tell as he was flipping that it didn’t look nearly as graceful as Loki’s had and when he hit the water, back first, it felt more like landing on concrete. All the air was sucked from his lungs and he was sinking like a rock as the burning pain started shooting through his body. 

Gabriel rolled his eyes and dove down after the stubborn hunter. He pulled him to the surface and over to the dock. “Hold on,” he told him as he started running his hands over the hunter’s back, healing the bruising and relieving the pain. Once he was done he started to chuckle. “I told you to start with something smaller.”

“What the hell was that?” Sam asked still trying to shake off the fear and pain. Granted he’d never had much of a chance to swim in his life, but he didn’t think water was supposed to be that hard of a landing. He knew how to swim of course. His father had made sure of that. ‘Never know when you’ll run across a water wraith, Sammy.’ There was never any play involved with it though. 

“Remind me to show you the physics section of the library later. Particularly hydrodynamics.” 

“What do you know about hydrodynamics?” Sam asked shocked at the idea that the playful little being could actually be smart. 

“I am a few billion years old, Samsquatch. I know a lot about a lot of things,” he pointed out as he dove underwater and swam away. He wasn’t here to have long boring conversations after all. He was here to have fun. He resurfaced about twenty feet away. “Come on. Let’s get you started with something easy.”

Sam, somewhat reluctantly followed him to another ladder that went nearly as high and Sam tamped down his nervousness. He definitely wasn’t going to let Loki see it. 

“Give me a…um…ten second head start then follow,” he said doing some quick calculations on how much faster Sam would go on the slide due to his increased weight. He didn’t particularly find mid-slide collisions much fun. He gave a little ‘whoop’ as he jumped onto the slide and disappeared. 

Sam counted to ten…and then kept going until fifteen before he got the nerve to settle onto the slide and then it was a few more seconds before he could bring himself to let go and went sliding down. His eyes went wide at the speed he was going at and the curves, that slung him up dangerously close to the top edge in his opinion, just seemed to be increasing the speed. When he saw the bottom approaching he braced himself for impact, surprised when he just slid effortlessly into the water. He surfaced with a grin. “That was great!”

Gabriel grinned back at him. Now Sam was getting into the spirit. He led the hunter over to the zip line. “Keep your feet down as you drop,” he advised before hopping on and completely disregarding his own advice as he added a little flip and entered the water in a graceful dive. He knew what he was doing after all. Sam followed and did as he was told and they spent the next few hours playing there before Sam’s stomach started growling. “I guess that’s our cue for dinner.” He hopped up onto the dock and held out a hand to help Sam up. He would have to put some ladders in now that Sam was around. He’d never bothered for that part since it was plenty low enough for him to just jump. 

When Loki whistled and Oreo came bounding up to them and then started walking through the woods Sam faltered a bit before he caught up. “You don’t just…you know…poof…back?” Sam didn’t mind the walking really, but he was starving and he had no idea how long the walk would be.

Gabriel let out a loud booming laugh. “Poof? Really? Do I poof?” Once he managed to get his laughter under control he answered the hunter’s question. “No. Oreo doesn’t like traveling that way. If he’s with me I walk.” It was about fifteen minutes before they emerged from the trees onto the beach and Gabriel snapped his fingers and there was a grill setup. Sam blinked at the surprise and Gabriel chuckled. “It’s an hour walk back to the house. I figure you might start gnawing on your own arm if I don’t feed you sooner than that.”

Sam couldn’t help but laugh at that too as Loki threw ten burgers on the grill. “I don’t know if I’m ‘that’ hungry,” Sam joked. Once they were done, he rolled his eyes as Loki threw two of the burgers to Oreo before adding cheese to the other eight and putting them on buns, handing four to Sam and keeping the other four to himself. 

They were sitting on the sand eating when Oreo, having finished his burgers already came up and sat in front of them just looking at them. “You still hungry boy?” Gabriel asked getting a tail thump in response. He turned to Sam. “Reach up there and toss him a bun wouldja?” he asked, Sam sitting closest to the grill. Once Sam had the bun in his hand Oreo’s tail started wagging a mile a minute and he went into an anticipatory crouch. Sam tossed the bun and laughed as the dog jumped up and caught it in midair. 

He was surprised at how much fun he was managing to have and he felt horribly guilty about it. He should be mourning his brother. Dean had been dead less than three months and here he was having cookouts on the beach and playing in water parks and befriending dogs, and he refused to consider the fact that he might even be coming to think of Loki as almost a friend too; the monster that had killed Dean a thousand times. He knew he was rather obsessing over that, but he couldn’t help it. Not only was it still so fresh, but losing Dean for real had reopened all those wounds and now being in such close proximity with the trickster just kept bringing it all to the surface again. And now his mood was effectively killed. 

Maybe if he could just get some justice for his brother he could find a way to make peace with all this. He managed to wait until they were walking back to the house as the sun was starting to set before he brought up the subject. “So I was thinking,” he started. 

“That sounds dangerous,” Gabriel replied. 

“I might be able to be persuaded to stay here…”

“You’re staying here anyway whether you’re ‘persuaded to’ or not,” he pointed out wondering where Sam was going with this.

“Okay then stay without making a fuss about it,” he clarified. “But I can’t just sit around knowing that Dean’s killer is still out there causing trouble. If you’ll help me kill her, I’ll stay peacefully.”

“No can do Sam-a-lam,” Gabriel said. “Use your brain a little. How many demon’s names do you know? Do you know why? Because they don’t give them. You know her name for a reason. She wants you to come after her. She wants you to kill her. She is the key to the whole apocalypse thing. She’s baiting you and want to walk right into the trap?” 

“What do you mean she’s the key?” Sam asked. 

“She’s the first demon ever created. Her death is one of the locks on Lucifer’s cage. Kill her and he gets loose.”

“You said one of the locks,” Sam pointed out. He would take any chance to get revenge. 

“There are a few things that have to happen. That are set in stone. Then any of hundreds of options for the rest. The only things we can reliably stop are the ones that are set in stone of which there are two left. One is on the verge of being sprung and is not something that I can stop or control. Her death will be the last piece. I don’t care how much trouble she causes or how many people she kills. It’s still better than the whole world if she dies.”

“Ok then just exorcise her. Send her back to hell,” Sam suggested. He could live with that option. 

“She’s the first demon, Sam. The ruler of hell. The most powerful demon alive. She can walk in and out of hell as she pleases. There’s no point.”

“So she just gets away with it?” Sam asked heatedly. 

“And that’s exactly why she did. Because she knew you wouldn’t let her get away with it and would play right into her hands. Luckily I won’t let you,” Gabriel said as he started walking again, not even looking to see if Sam was following.


	10. Chapter 10

“Wait. There’s still something I don’t understand,” Sam said. When he just got a curious look from Loki he said, “You said there had to be two brother, one going to hell and the other drinking demon blood, but you tried to get through to us before Dean ever sold his soul. So what? You just pop in on every set of brothers in the world?” 

“Every set with the right bloodlines yes,” Gabriel told him. There had been a few times in the past that potential vessels had been born. “None of them have ever been as stubborn as you two though. It’s far closer than it’s ever been. Too close for comfort which is why I’m not taking any chances.” It was possible that killing Lilith before the first seal was broken might stop the whole thing, or it might still count. There was no rule saying what order the seals had to be broken in. The whole first and last seal were just guidelines really. He wasn’t about to risk it. 

“Right bloodlines?” Sam asked curiously. 

“Both Cain and Abel in their ancestry. It’s not as common as you might think but it does happen.”

“More brothers?” Sam was starting to pick up the symbolism here. 

“You and Dean, Cain and Abel, Lucifer and Michael, all brothers. Fratricide at its finest. That’s how it started. That’s how it ends,” Gabriel said bitterly. 

“So what? You’re going to spend the rest of time averting the apocalypse?” Sam asked wondering what the point would be if it kept trying to happen. 

“Not the rest of time. Eventually the world will be unsalvageable. Humanity will be so far gone that there won’t be any redemption. Then I’ll let it happen. Until then…as long as there is still good in the world…” Gabriel trailed off as he realized that he was letting too much show. “I mean as long as porn and food and sex are around the world is a pretty great place yeah?” he quipped, changing his demeanor completely. “It’d be nice to have a little more time to enjoy it.”

Sam’s eyebrows climbed almost to his hairline. He finally realized that Loki’s usual attitude was just a mask. And he had just gotten a glimpse behind it and it fascinated him. He spent the remainder of the walk back to the house in silence, just mulling over what he had learned. 

Gabriel was cursing himself for his slip. He knew that Sam had caught it. It had been far too obvious for him not to, and his own attempts at covering it up had been sorely lacking. He had been so wrapped up in getting through to Sam and getting him to accept being here and make him comfortable here, that he had let himself get too comfortable too. It didn’t help that this was usually the one place he didn’t have to hide. Sam still hadn’t said a word by the time they entered the house and just said a quiet, ‘goodnight’ as he headed up the stairs.

 

The next morning as Sam came downstairs for breakfast, he addressed the topic he needed to talk about. “Ok so first off, I just want to say that I heard everything you said. I get the dangers now and I know what not to do. But I can’t just stay here knowing that she is out there terrorizing the world. I have to be there to help, even if I can’t kill her and even if exorcising her would be pointless, there are still things I can do to help.”

“You really do have a one track mind don’t you?” Gabriel said amusedly. “Well, let me be the broken record to go with it. No.”

“Then I’ll have to find my own way out of here,” Sam said getting annoyed again. He was trying to be reasonable here. 

“Good luck with that. You gonna have some breakfast before you head out?” 

Sam was torn for a moment, but caved when Loki slid the plate in front of him. He’d even topped the pancakes with fruit. Well Sam’s anyway. His own were slathered in chocolate sauce and Oreo’s were plain. He still ate quickly, glaring at Loki and daring him to say a word. Loki’s lips twitched a few times, but overall he stayed silent and as soon as Sam’s plate was clean he stormed out. 

Gabriel finished his meal leisurely and then snapped his fingers to clean up the mess. He figured the hunter would be gone all day, so he should have a chance to indulge. He let Oreo outside and thought for a minute about what he was in the mood for before he snapped his fingers and there was suddenly a tall stunning man standing there. Gabriel grinned in approval and pulled him down to the basement for some fun. A few hours later found him standing in front of the stove, his newest toy behind him, being delightfully distracting as he cooked. He really loved having company while cooking. He’d missed it the last few days. He hadn’t wanted to throw too much at Sam too soon. 

 

After Sam stormed out he walked down around the cliffs to the other side of the beach where all the large rocks and logs were. He took his time rearranging them so they spelled out help in twenty-foot-high letters. He had seen it on TV once to get the attention of passing aircraft. Loki had said that the wards interfered with satellite signals so maybe they were closed off at the top and only went so high. He wasn’t sure how anyone would get to him here, but maybe just knowing someone was there would help them find a way. 

It was nearly lunch time by the time he was finished and there wasn’t really anything more he could do right now so he headed back to the house. When he got there and walked in he stopped short at the sight. Loki was standing at the stove, in nothing but his boxers, while another man, similarly dressed was pressed tightly behind him. One of the man’s hands was splayed over Loki’s chest while the other was down inside the god’s shorts and he was sucking what looked like sauce off of one of Loki’s fingers as the trickster hummed contentedly and closed his eyes. 

Sam cleared his throat loudly and Loki’s eyes snapped open as he pulled his finger from his companion’s mouth. “Sammykins! You’re back early…” he trailed off with a low moan as the other man started sucking on his neck and the hand in Loki’s shorts started moving a little more insistently. Apparently he didn’t appreciate the distraction. Loki just turned in the guys arms and said. “Mmm. We’ll have to continue this a little later sexy,” he murmured as he pressed a hard kiss to the guys lips before snapping his fingers making him disappear. Then he turned back to Sam. “Sorry. Where were we? Oh yeah. What happened? Give up on your big escape plans?” 

Sam just blinked at him a moment. “You wanna…you know…cover up or something?” he gestured at Loki’s very prominent erection in his nearly naked state. 

“Never realized you were such a prude,” he said as he rolled his eyes and snapped up some clothes. “Better?”

Now that the glaring issue was out of the way Sam could focus on his point of confusion. “I thought you were into women?” Sam clearly remembered the women he’d had back at the college. 

“Why limit yourself to such things as gender and species. Only thing I won’t touch is a demon. Anything else is fair game,” Gabriel said finding it more than amusing that they were suddenly discussing his sexuality. 

“What you mean like werewolves?” Sam asked distastefully. 

“They’re real animals in bed,” Gabriel said with a waggle of his eyebrows. 

“Vampires?” Sam curled his nose. 

“Always good for a little S&M.”

“Ghosts?” Sam asked not even sure how that would work. 

“Once they figure out how to get around the whole non-corporeal thing they tend to be starved for attention.”

Sam wracked his brain for more creatures they had run across just to see how far Loki would go. “Wendigo?” 

“Never had the pleasure, but I’ll try anything once.”

“Anything except a demon,” Sam said. 

“Yeah. Except that. There are some lines even I won’t cross. Ugh,” he shuddered in disgust at the thought. When he saw that no more questions were forthcoming he just asked, “You hungry?” as he pulled the pots from the stove. 

“I…um…” Sam looked hesitantly at the food. It looked good but…

“Don’t worry. My extracurricular activities didn’t contaminate the food. I’m not a barbarian.”

“Um…yeah…okay then.”


	11. Chapter 11

After they finished eating, Sam said, “I can give you some time alone…”

“Nah. Was just gonna go diving after lunch anyway. Wanna come?” Gabriel asked.

“You mean like…scuba diving?” Sam asked curiously. 

“Sure. I can snap you up some scuba gear,” he offered. 

“Um…nah. I’m good. Maybe some other time.” He was still trying to get used to the idea of being able to spend so much time in the water. He didn’t think he was ready to go on an underwater adventure. Even if Loki had proven that he wouldn’t let anything happen to him. And that was a whole other can of worms. 

“Suit yourself,” Gabriel said with a shrug. It didn’t really make a difference to him either way. He was just being polite by offering. 

Once Loki had left, Sam decided to take the opportunity and explore the rest of the house. He hadn’t actually seen anything outside of his bedroom, the living room and the kitchen yet, having slept the first few nights outside, then been sick. Loki had implied a library somewhere and Sam really wanted to find it. He would start downstairs though. He opened the other door off the kitchen that didn’t lead outside and found it led to a garage. He had remembered Loki mentioning a garage before he tried to take the raft out and had wondered what use a garage could possibly be on an island with no roads, but he figured it out when he saw a range of dirtbikes and atvs. Maybe he could figure out how to use them sometime. He would definitely come back to that. The rest of the garage was just filled with miscellaneous stuff, including a dozen cases of bottled water as Loki had suggested.

Other than the large sliding door at the front that he assumed led back outside here was another door on the far side. He opened it to find a stairwell going down. He remembered what Loki had implied about the basement and hesitated at going down there. His curiosity would always be his undoing though and he descended the stairs and opened the door at the bottom. Once he got a look at the room there were so many possible reactions running through his mind that he just stood there with a completely gob-smacked expression for a good long while. It might have been considered a sex dungeon if it weren’t for the fact that everything was in bright cheerful colors. The restraints were all furry and he could swear the whips looked like licorice. There were even boxes of candy lingerie stacked against the back wall. It was like Willy Wonka’s secret sex dungeon. 

In the end by the time he was stumbling up the stairs he was torn between laughing and gagging and was doing a little bit of both making for what he was sure would be an amusing sight and he was glad that Loki wasn’t here to see it. He made it back up to the living room and was torn for a moment between finding something to get that image out of his mind and continuing the exploration, getting all of the potential trauma out of the way at once. In the end he decided to keep exploring. He opened the other door off the living room and when he found another staircase leading down he closed it just as quickly. That explained were the other door down there led. 

He checked the door behind the staircase in the living room and found himself in a pretty cool game room. There was a pool table, dartboard, ping pong table, and a fully stocked wet bar. Just what he needed. Exploring the rest of the house was forgotten as he grabbed a bottle of whiskey and a glass and plopped into one of the plush chairs scattered around. He at least had enough of his faculties to pour the whiskey into the glass before downing it. He lost track of time as he just kept drinking letting his mind wander. The basement monstrosity was quickly forgotten and he was soon overcome by the grief of losing his brother, the loneliness, the fear, everything he’d been pushing to the back of his mind since then, all the new revelations he’d gotten since he’d been here, all of it just came crashing down on him as he lost himself in the bottle. 

Gabriel got back just a little before the sun started going down, not really surprised when he didn’t see Sam. When he reached out with his mind to see if he would need to retrieve him from some corner of the island once it got dark, he actually found him in the house. In the lounge to be exact. He headed over and opened the door, mouth twitching at the sight of a very drunk and disheveled hunter sitting there with a mostly empty bottle of whiskey. Looked like Sam wasn’t going to be up for dinner tonight. The glazed over look in his eye said he was about one glass shy of passing out. The hunter seemed to notice his audience at that as he looked up and started shaking the bottle at him. “You. You did this.” At least that’s what Gabriel managed to translate from the drunken garble. He was luckily pretty good at speaking drunk. 

“Oh yes. I shoved the bottle in your hand and poured the whiskey down your throat. Right,” he said rolling his eyes amusedly as he walked over to him. “C’mon kiddo. Let’s get you to bed.”

“Bed. Right. Sleep good,” Sam slurred. 

“Yeah Sammy. Sleep good,” he chuckled throwing the hunter’s arm over his shoulder and supporting most of his weight as they headed out of the room and up the stairs. 

They were almost to the top of the stairs when Sam slurred out, “You’re sweet.”

Gabriel laughed. “Been called a lot of things before, Samsquatch, but that’s a new one,” he joked as he got the door to Sam’s room open and helped him inside. As they got inside Sam turned and half fell on him pressing him against the wall. He started to chuckle again before it was cut off by the hunter’s lips against his and Sam’s tongue pressing into his mouth. Sam’s hand that wasn’t still around Gabriel’s shoulder was running haphazardly over Gabriel’s chest and Jesus! If Sam could kiss like that drunk what the hell was he like sober. Gabriel couldn’t help but kiss him back for a minute before he turned his head away. “You…r-really should…go to…um…” he wasn’t about to mention a bed right now. “Get some rest,” he amended as those talented lips attached to his neck pulling a whimper from him. 

“You said you’d try anything once,” Sam slurred pressing himself tighter against Loki. “Or am I more di-di- nasty than demon.”

“I…oh…fuck Sam,” he panted moving his hands to the hunter’s hips, whether to push him away or pull him closer he wasn’t sure as Sam bit and licked up the side of his neck. “I…shit…only…” he managed a deep breath to try and get his thoughts together. “Only when…they can…consent…and…fuck…” he groaned as the top two buttons on his shirt popped. “and you…can’t.” 

“Can,” Sam argued moving his hand to the front of Loki’s pants.

Ok. That was enough of the gentle crap. He had to stop this now before he lost all willpower to do so. His hands wrapped firmly around Sam’s wrists holding them in place and putting a bit of distance between them causing Sam to whimper as he stood there panting at the effort it took not to just take the hunter right then and there. “Jesus Sam…I swear…if you still want me sober I’ll make you forget your fucking name…but you’ll thank me for this tomorrow,” he said releasing one of Sam’s wrists long enough to snap his fingers and make the hunter appear in bed fast asleep…or passed out. Gabriel wasn’t sure which and he didn’t much care at the moment as he retreated from the room and snapped his fingers making for his own room where his own present was waiting for him.


	12. Chapter 12

The next morning Sam stumbled downstairs half-dead and practically collapsed at the table to find a bowl of plain oatmeal and toast sat in front of him. “Hey Loki?” 

“Hmm?” 

“What happened to my wrists?” he asked curiously, holding them up so the god could see the slight swelling and bruising there. 

“Shit! Sorry about that. Here,” he grabbed Sam’s wrists and focused on healing. He’d apparently been a little less in control than he’d thought last night and that was saying a lot. “Are you feeling a little more like yourself this morning?” he couldn’t resist asking. 

“What do you…Oh!” Sam’s eyes went wide as the memories of last night started returning to him. “Oh…god…” Sam scrambled from the chair and barely made it to the bathroom before he started emptying his stomach. 

Gabriel followed and leaned on the doorway. Once it seemed that Sam was done, or at least had a break, he drawled, “Well I never quite considered myself as vomit inducing.”

Sam groaned. “I…Its…not that,” Sam stumbled over his words. “I just…god I’m hungover,” he sighed as he rested his forehead against the cool porcelain of the toilet. 

“Yes. I’m sure,” Gabriel chuckled. 

“Don’t suppose you can heal that?” Sam asked hopefully. 

“No can do kiddo, but get some food and especially some water into you and you’ll be right as rain.” Technically he could heal a hangover, but he didn’t want to get that habit started. He healed the injuries that he’d inadvertently caused. What Sam did to himself he could deal with like a normal person. 

“I don’t know if I can eat,” Sam muttered. 

“That’s why I made you oatmeal and toast instead of a normal breakfast. Now come on. Up you go.” Gabriel got Sam back to the table and coaxed him into eating most of his breakfast and then drinking a whole bottle of water. “Now go lay down and watch tv until lunch and you’ll be good to go. Just keep drinking plenty of water.” 

Sam had to admit that he felt a little better already so he just did as Loki told him to, wincing at the whistle as he called Oreo and they headed outside. Sam guessed it was probably mid-morning when he fell asleep and only woke up when he felt a weight on his chest and something thumping on his stomach. He hadn’t been sleeping deeply enough to startle awake thankfully and he just creaked his eyes open to see Oreo perched on top of him. As soon as the little dog saw Sam’s eyes open he yipped and started licking the hunter’s face and Sam laughed and started petting him. 

“Feeling better?” Gabriel called from the kitchen. 

“Much. Thanks,” Sam called back. He almost felt normal again. He just lay there playing with Oreo until Loki called him for lunch. 

Gabriel waited until Sam was settled at the table and eating before he brought up the previous night. Sam seemed to like having the serious conversations over meals after all. “So what brought on the drinking binge? Or is that a normal thing with you?” He was hardly going to judge either way. He just wanted to know what to expect. 

“It’s not normal no,” Sam said looking down embarrassed. “It started after I…um…went downstairs. Trying to get the image out of my mind,” he shrugged sheepishly and Loki laughed heartily. “I-I’m sorry about…you know…last night. I just…I was lonely and upset and just…I don’t know.”

“Hey you don’t need to apologize Samsquatch. That’s a perfectly valid reason to want a roll in the hay,” Gabriel told him. 

“It is?” Sam asked. He wasn’t sure why he should be surprised. He’d always been under the impression that it wasn’t. 

“Sure it is. Only time it’s wrong is if you lie to someone to get it. Or if they aren’t in their right mind to know what’s going on,” he added. At the thoughtful look on the hunter’s face he decided to lay it all out. “And I meant what I said. I’m game if you’re sober. Or even if you tell me when you’re sober that it’s fine when you’re drunk. Whatever.”

“I…um…I don’t…” Sam stammered. 

“Hey, no pressure here. Just letting you know the option’s open if you want it.”

“I…um…o-okay.”

Gabriel knew that wasn’t an ‘okay let’s do it’. It was more of an ‘okay let’s drop it’ so he did. “So out of curiosity, any particular reason you picked the worst whiskey in the place?” 

Sam shrugged. “I’m used to it and I didn’t want to use up your good stuff.”

Gabriel rolled his eyes. It looked like he was gonna have to actually come out and say it. “You’re welcome to anything in this house and to go anywhere in this house, but I’m not responsible for anything you may see if you happen to come into my room or the basement,” he joked.

“Or the kitchen apparently,” Sam said with a chuckle.

“Yeah, well, I happen to like a little ‘company’ while I’m cooking,” he said unapologetically. “Seriously though. You know my only rule. Other than that carpe diem.” He waited a moment to make sure that sunk in before he got an amused smirk. “And FYI, this island is kind of a Bermuda triangle type place. No plane or helicopter or anything is ever going to be able to get close to see your little message out there.” Sam sighed. He figured that. He could hope though. “I did preserve it for you though. Made sure the tide wouldn’t wash it away or anything,” he offered cheerfully. 

“Maybe I’ll just try and talk one of your houseguests into getting me out then,” he said smugly. He was sure that idea would work. It might take a little time, but he could certainly charm someone. 

Gabriel just laughed. “You are the only being in existence other than myself that even knows this place exists. I never bring real houseguests here. Just ones I create.”

“But…why?” 

“This is my sanctuary. This is where I go to hide from the rest of the world. I’m not bringing any of it with me if I can help it.”

“But you brought me…” Sam said confused. 

“I said if I could help it. This is the only place that will keep you hidden well enough. That falls under the ‘I can’t help it’ clause.”

Sam didn’t have anything to say to that. Loki was actually giving up his private sanctuary to try and save the world…and Sam, and as badly as Sam wanted to leave, he couldn’t help but feel that he should be grateful. He couldn’t bring himself to actually say ‘thank you’ for kidnapping him and keeping him prisoner here so he just settled for saying nothing at all. 

Once lunch was over, Sam said, “I’m gonna go out for a walk.” Loki just nodded unconcernedly, so Sam headed for the door. Oreo perched himself in the center of the room, halfway between Loki and Sam and yipped at Sam, wagging his tail expectantly. Sam looked questioningly at the deity. 

“Up to you,” he said with a shrug. 

“Come on Oreo,” Sam opened the door for the little dog who bounded outside excitedly. He barely managed to catch the Frisbee Loki threw to him before it hit him in the head and Sam nodded gratefully and followed the dog out. He needed some time alone with his thoughts. 

He couldn’t deny that he was starting to feel comfortable here and he obviously wasn’t going to be able to leave no matter what he did. Could he really just sit back and accept it though? Why not? What did he have left out there other than a quest for vengeance. His mom died when he was a baby. His dad died a couple years ago. Dean…he was gone too. Sam had wanted out of hunting his whole life. What if this was the only chance he’d ever get? It wasn’t exactly what he’d wanted, but it was peaceful. He wouldn’t be able to have a normal life here, but given the whole apocalypse on his shoulders thing he wouldn’t be able to out there either. 

But what would he do here? With no job, no school, no obligations or responsibilities, what would he fill his days with? Was he really just going to be stuck walking the beach every day for the rest of his life? When Oreo yipped at him, he was reminded about the dog’s presence and he tossed the Frisbee for him. Loki had implied a library, which he still hadn’t seen despite his best intentions yesterday. That might help. And he’d mentioned a physics section, though that may have been a joke, but if it wasn’t, and there was a physics section there must be a lot of other sections as well. Loki had also said to let him know if there was anything he needed or wanted that wasn’t here so was there really a limit? Other than leaving of course. That was the only obvious limit and unfortunately it was the only one that bothered him. 

His biggest issue would probably be the loneliness. He was already lonely and it had only been about a week, and half of that he had been laid up in bed. Then again, once he accepted it, maybe it would be easier to deal with. Loki had offered to help with the physical aspect, of course, and even if he did take him up on it, would it be enough? Did he even want to take him up on it? He’d been with men before. That wasn’t an issue, but this was a monster. No. Not a monster. But not human. Then again, he’d been sleeping with a demon when he was getting her blood. Loki would be a step up from that. Hell, even Loki wouldn’t touch a demon. He couldn’t get much lower. And it’s not like there were a lot of options around. He wouldn’t be so insulting as to say I won’t touch you but you can make someone for me. He would leave that option open for later though.

He had to admit that Loki was definitely attractive. He had that small lithe body and those wiry muscles and from what little he could tell from when he had interrupted him, an impressive cock. His sandy blonde hair was so soft, the few times he’d gotten close enough to touch it, and those golden eyes were just mesmerizing. Not to mention that now that he wasn’t trying to torture him he was actually pretty fun to be around. It wasn’t likely that any kind of emotional attachment would form between them, not that Loki seemed the type to go for that anyway, but maybe a friends with benefits type thing could be mutually beneficial. Sam realized that after throwing the Frisbee a dozen times or so, Oreo hadn’t brought it back in a while so he looked around to see the pup trying to pounce on the waves as they came in and then chasing them back out and he couldn’t help but smile at the sight. Yeah. Maybe he could live with staying here. He called Oreo and headed back towards the house. 

Gabriel wasn’t going to be disrespectful enough to have a sexy cooking session with someone while Sam was already there, but while the hunter was gone… that was a different story. He would stop it if Sam came back during, but he didn’t really care if Sam got a little show beforehand. If he really didn’t want to see it he could learn to announce himself when coming back. It was this thinking that led to his current position, with a mostly naked tall brunette man pressed against his back, pinching his nipples as the other hand roamed over the rest of Gabriel’s chest and stomach, inching steadily lower. The lips and tongue and teeth trailing across his neck and shoulders were just the icing on the cake. He rolled his hips back into the hard length pressing against him as the nameless man slipped his hand down into Gabriel’s shorts. Gabriel let out a low moan just as he heard the dog’s toenails running across the floor. He turned his head to see Sam watching him hungrily, biting his lower lip, with a very obvious bulge in his pants.


	13. Chapter 13

Gabriel raised an eyebrow at Sam as if to ask, ‘what now?’ 

Sam knew he’d been caught, but he didn’t care. What better way to kick things off? He started walking towards them, not breaking eye contact with Loki. 

Gabriel watched Sam walk closer, his breathing speeding up, wondering if this was going where he thought it was going. The other man was still pressed against him, continuing everything he’d been doing, completely unconcerned with the intrusion, but Gabriel barely noticed. When Sam was just a few feet away, he cocked an eyebrow and cut his eyes quickly to the other occupant of the kitchen and Gabriel snapped his fingers making him disappear and Sam took the last few steps towards him and pressed himself to Gabriel’s back. 

Sam put his hands on the counter on either side of Loki. “So you like ‘company’ while you cook huh?” he whispered seductively in his ear. 

“Mmhmm,” he murmured rolling his hips back against the hunter in blatant invitation. Sam moved his hands to Loki’s sides circling his thumbs over his lower back as he pressed his lips against the god’s neck. 

Gabriel sucked in a sharp breath. “Oh…fuck…Sam…” he exhaled. Real people were very different from created ones, and with all this mess it had been a while since he’d had someone real. Not to mention that Sam was very much forbidden fruit and god did he want. “Too…many…clothes.”

“Mmm. Something tells me you can do something about that,” Sam murmured. Now that he had his hands on Loki he didn’t want to stop as one hand trailed around and up his chest and the other over his stomach. Sure enough he soon felt a draft and realized that he was only in his boxers now too and his erection was pressed tightly against Loki’s ass. “Much better,” he said as he placed a light nip followed by a suck to the place where the back of his neck met his shoulder. 

Only Gabriel’s millennia of practice had him keeping enough focus on the meal at this point as Sam’s hands continued in their exploration. When the tips of Sam’s fingers dipped underneath the waistband of his boxers and seemed content to hover there for now, Gabriel whimpered. “Ohgodshitsamfuckplease,” poured from his mouth and he felt the grin against his shoulder as Sam continued down, taking Gabriel’s length in his hand, pulling a low moan from them both as Sam realized that he had underestimated the impressiveness of Loki’s cock and he suddenly couldn’t wait to get him into bed. 

Gabriel lifted the spoon out of the bouillabaisse he was stirring and swiped a finger along the side of it and then held the finger over his shoulder where Sam immediately wrapped his lips around it. The way the hunter’s tongue circled his finger as he sucked hard left no room for interpretation and Gabriel had to remind himself to breathe again as Sam’s hand squeezed tighter around his cock and picked up speed. 

Sam couldn’t believe he actually had Loki’s cock in his hand and he was so completely turned on that when the god leaned over and turned off the burners, moving the pots onto the counter he practically growled, “Let’s postpone dinner.”

The next thing Sam knew he was pressed hard against the wall with Loki turned in his arms with an, “Oh fuck yes,” as he crashed his lips into Sam’s and their boxers were suddenly gone. Once Loki lifted up one of Sam’s legs and he felt a slick finger slide into him, he knew they definitely weren’t making it to a bed. He had rather intended for this to be the other way around, but when Loki’s finger hit that sweet spot that had Sam arching his back and crying out in pleasure, he suddenly didn’t care anymore. He just wanted more. 

Gabriel didn’t usually let himself get so out of control during these times, but then he generally had full control over his conjured beings and was able to keep them from getting him quite so hot. Having a fucking gorgeous hunter pushing him to the edge wasn’t a usual occurrence, but hell if he was complaining. One of Sam’s hands was clutching at his ass while the other tangled in his hair as their tongues battled for dominance and their hard cocks slid together. 

The tightness around Gabriel’s finger was just sending him even higher, and he pressed a second one in, perhaps sooner than he should have judging by the hunter’s hiss of pain. There was no way he was going to be able to stop now though, and thankfully Sam didn’t ask him to as he stretched the hunter as quickly as he could manage until he couldn’t possibly hold back for one more second. Sam would just have to be ready enough. He tore his lips away and spun the hunter around, pulling his hips back and spreading his legs as he quickly sheathed himself inside. 

Sam cried out, as much from pain as pleasure, but now that Gabriel was in, he felt a bit of the urgency fade and he managed to still for a minute as he massaged his hands over he hunter’s ass and lower back before moving to his sides and then down his hips to his thighs. He waited until Sam pressed himself back before he started moving. Despite the feeling of being inside him, it still wasn’t easy to hold back for so long so it didn’t take much time before he was pounding hard and fast into the hunter who was bracing himself against the wall. Gabriel knew he wasn’t going to last long this time and so reached around and took Sam’s cock in his hand and started pumping fast, timing the twist around the tip to coincide with hitting the hunter’s prostate and Sam started babbling incoherently and quickly spilled over Gabriel’s hand. Gabriel thrust a few more times, “Oh…fuck…yes…SAM!” he cried as he blew his load in Sam’s tight ass. 

Gabriel rode out his orgasm and then stilled for a moment leaning his head forward to Sam’s back, trying to catch his breath and remind his muscles how to move. When Sam started to stand back up he snapped out of it, pulled his softening cock slowly out of the hunter and took a step back. Sam turned around and rested his back against the wall, breathing just as heavily as Gabriel was before he gave a sly grin and asked, “Is this how these things usually go?” gesturing to the cooling food on the counter. 

Gabriel snorted in amusement. “No. Not usually.” He didn’t elaborate and just snapped his fingers, dressing them both back in their shorts and cleaning them up before returning to the food. 

Sam waited until they were seated at the table and Loki had taken his first bite of food before he smirked and said, “I do still remember my name, by the way.”

Gabriel laughed and said “Oh please. That was just a quickie. You ain’t seen nothing yet.” 

“You think you’re gonna get another chance after you blew it the first time?” Sam teased. 

“Judging by your incoherent babbling I’d hardly say I ‘blew it’,” Gabriel bantered back. 

Sam took on a haughty air. “Well you did make certain promises that were not lived up to,” he said snootily. 

“Yes well, I didn’t say exactly when I would live up to them, now did I?”

“Touché. I suppose I’ll have to give you one more chance then won’t I?” 

Gabriel winked and ran a hand up Sam’s inner thigh. “It would definitely be worth your while,” he said seductively.


	14. Chapter 14

“Before this goes any further though, there is something I think we need to get out in the open,” Gabriel said once the fun moment had passed. 

“What’s that?” Sam asked curiously. 

“I’m sure it’s obvious and goes without saying, but in order to prevent potential misunderstandings down the road; I don’t do relationships, I don’t do feelings, and I don’t do monogamy. Can you live with that?”

It was obvious, but he appreciated having it spelled out anyway. Especially since it gave him a chance to air his own desire. “As long as you’ll either bring me or make me other partners too and there aren’t any double standards,” Sam told him.

“Good. Then it’s settled,” Gabriel said with a grin. “But tonight you’re mine.”

“Damn right,” Sam said with a matching grin. 

Once they finished eating Loki snapped his fingers and cleaned up the mess before grabbing Sam’s hand and pulling him upstairs. This was Sam’s first time in Loki’s room and he was surprised that it didn’t match the vomit inducing color schemes in the living room or the basement, but was instead done up in rich golds and warm browns. It was actually very inviting. He didn’t have much time to look around though before he was being pressed onto his stomach on the bed. He held back his disappointed sigh. He’d hoped for a little more foreplay this time around, so he was surprised when he felt warm slick hands on his shoulders as the smell of vanilla and cinnamon wafted through the room. Was Loki seriously giving him a hot oil massage?

Gabriel was pretty sure Sam was kidding when he’d joked about one more chance to impress, but he wasn’t taking any chances. He was likely going to end up completely in hiding here before long too and he wasn’t going to risk alienating his only real body. He was going to pull out all the stops here. His bag of tricks was far too exhaustive to hit all in one night, but he would definitely be going for the highlight reel. He channeled a small amount of grace through his hands to aid in relaxation and pleasure as he expertly massaged the hunter’s neck and shoulders before moving down his back. He leaned over the hunter as his lips trailed in the wake of his hands, taking his time to tend thoroughly tend to every muscle in the hunter’s body. He waited until he reached that point before Sam’s boxers disappeared and he continued the massage, lips still following, spreading the hunter’s cheeks as he made sure to get everywhere. As his hands continued down Sam’s thighs though, his lips were no longer going with them as he nipped at Sam’s entrance before prodding with his tongue. 

Gabriel waited until Sam was breathing heavily and almost trembling before he breeched the tight ring of muscles with his tongue. By this time, he was massaging the back of Sam’s knees which was as far as he could reach in his current position so he wrapped an arm around the hunter’s waist and lifted him up until he got his knees underneath him, and then his expert hands continued down Sam’s calves. Gabriel lengthened his tongue so that he could lick Sam’s prostate, even as he was still massaging. Sam was already falling apart beneath his attentions and they had barely gotten started. Gabriel reached the hunter’s toes and started back up his legs. By the time his hot oily hands were pulling Sam open again, Gabriel knew that he was plenty loose enough this time and he flipped him over to his back. 

Another little perk of his powers was that there was no need for bottles of oil or warmers. He was secreting the hot oil directly from his hands as he straddled the hunter’s lap, still wearing his own silk boxers, and started over again at the top. When Sam realized that he bucked his hips up with a whimper. “Oh god…fuck Loki…Please…god please…”

“Mmm. We’re getting there,” he whispered suggestively in the hunter’s ear adding a little nibble to the earlobe. He was rock hard and ready to go himself, but he had a lot more control this time, having already gotten off downstairs. Sam kept whimpering and clutching at him and bucking his hips up, but Gabriel didn’t budge from his plan. They had been in bed for more than an hour before Gabriel’s tongue dipped into the hunter’s belly button as his hands massaged the hot oil into Sam’s hips. Gabriel’s mouth was taking care of the stomach before his hands. There was so much pre-cum dripped there by this point that the oil would be pointless, so he took his time cleaning it up. Once that was done and Gabriel’s hands were massaging Sam’s stomach he moved his mouth to kiss and nip over the hunter’s hips. 

“Oh god…Damnit Loki…please…shit…anything…please…god…” Sam panted desperately. 

Gabriel smirked. He gave in at least a little bit and moved one of his hands from Sam’s stomach to coat his straining cock in the hot oil, using his powers to hold back the hunter’s orgasm. As his hand moved back down Sam’s length, Gabriel made the inside of his mouth like ice and took Sam in his mouth, the dual sensations of hot and cold warring and turning Sam’s sensations up to eleven as he arched up off the bed babbling incoherently. Gabriel’s hot hand moved down coating Sam’s balls as his icy tongue teased over Sam’s length before he brought his head back up, hand following in its wake as Gabriel’s other hand continued the massage, rather uselessly since Sam was on sensory overload for the rest of it and didn’t even notice the hand massaging down the front of his leg. 

Gabriel started pumping Sam’s shaft with his hand while his cold mouth stayed around the head, teasing his tongue around and over the slit, before suddenly following his hand all the way down again while it played with Sam’s balls for a few minutes and then Gabriel pulled all the way off and his hand took the whole tip. He continued that until his one hand reached Sam’s toes again and then switched hands to continue the process as the first one moved back up the other leg. He never let Sam get too used to any one sensation before it changed rapidly and the hunter was nothing but a quivering mess of whimpers and moans. Gabriel wouldn’t be surprised if his cries could be heard over the whole island and Gabriel was really starting to have trouble holding himself back by now. Of course he’d been preventing Sam from coming for the last half hour so he flipped the hunter back over to his knees and pressed himself in slowly causing Sam’s broken babbles to increase in intensity. He could make out a few words here and there. Mostly ‘please’ and ‘more’. 

Once he was fully seated he reached his hands under Sam’s chest and pulled him up. He leaned back to sit on his ankles and Sam leaned against him, wiggling his ass and trying desperately to make him move. Gabriel then turned one of his hands ice cold while the other stayed hot and slick and one went to Sam’s nipples while the other went to his cock and Gabriel thrust hard and fast and deep, switching his hands out every few thrusts. Sam was pressing himself down meeting every thrust as hard as he could and when Gabriel felt himself getting close he took both of his hands, hot and cold, and wrapped them around the hunter’s length, interlocking his fingers as he finally dropped the block he had up preventing Sam from coming and Sam screamed as he let loose, shooting as far as the high ceiling and Gabriel held him down tightly as he spilled himself at the same time. 

By the time he was spent and lying Sam back on the bed, the hunter still wasn’t capable of forming words, but he grabbed onto Gabriel and pulled him in for a hard, but very quick due to his inability to breath, kiss. Gabriel, smug smirk clearly evident lay down next to the hunter to catch his breath too and Sam’s arms wrapped tightly around him crushing him against the larger man. It was a good half hour before any words were spoken and Sam gasped out, “What’s my name?” 

“Fred,” Gabriel said not missing a beat.


	15. Chapter 15

Gabriel could see Sam dozing off. “You wanna go to your own room or sleep here?” he asked. Gabriel didn’t actually sleep so it didn’t matter much to him. 

“Sleep,” Sam muttered and Gabriel just chuckled, rolled his eyes, and left him to it as he headed downstairs to watch some television. 

Gabriel was standing on the cliffs, as per usual, as the first golden rays of sunshine peeked over the horizon. The peaceful moment was ruined as he stumbled and, for lack of anything to steady himself on, fell to the ground. That was when the screeching in his head began. He rarely heard anything from heaven anymore, but the big stuff still came through. Like he needed that to know that the first seal had been broken. Like every angel and demon in existence didn’t feel it break.

One good thing about hearing the announcement though; he knew who was being sent after the righteous man and he groaned as he heard Castiel’s garrison dispatched. Of course it had to be him. He was a brilliant soldier, and Gabriel was actually rather proud of him for his promotion since Gabriel had last heard, but he would make things far more difficult. Not only was he a brilliant tactician and skilled fighter, he questioned everything, which made him a liability as an angel in many ways, but in this situation would be bad for Gabriel in particular. 

Part of his job would be securing Sam, and unlike most angels who wouldn’t look beyond the surface, Cassie would keep digging, and he wouldn’t stop until he had answers. Gabriel would have to tread very carefully from here on out. He was now more sure than ever that he would end up in hiding here before long as well and he immediately started making lists in his head of things he needed to handle before that happened. It would take time for the garrison to reach Dean and then bring him out. Gabriel wanted to be ready by then. He would still stay free as long as he could manage, but as long as he was ready to go at a moment’s notice he would be good. He didn’t know how long it would take the seraph to put the pieces together. He scowled at the ruined sunrise, as if it were at fault, and headed back to the house to start breakfast before Sam woke up. 

Sam woke slowly only to realize that he wasn’t in his own room, and that’s when the memories from the previous night came flooding back and he felt the blood pooling in his groin just at the thought of it. He rolled out of bed and marveled at how amazing he felt. He should have gone in for massages a long time ago. He didn’t think he’d ever felt so good. He knew better than to expect such treatment often. This one was just because he had challenged the deity, but he would have to remember to do so again from time to time. He would just have to make sure not to overuse that trick. 

His only point of contention was his sore ass and even that was a good sore. He decided that he was going to be on the other side of things next time though. Maybe he could even make use of the room downstairs if he could get over the ridiculousness of it. He made his way back to his room, still naked, to retrieve some clothes. He was glad that Loki had been nice enough to snap up some more clothes for him after all of his were lost during the disastrous rafting trip, but the little god had gone a bit overboard. He had more clothes than he knew what to do with now, and very little plaid and he’d had to fight to get that. It wasn’t so much that he wore it often. It wasn’t really the type of wear for a tropical island paradise, but he still wanted the option. He just pulled on a t-shirt and shorts though, as was typical here and headed downstairs for breakfast. 

As his fruit-topped pancakes were set in front of him, Loki plopped down with his own breakfast. “I have some errands to run. I’ll be gone for a few days. Maybe a week. Will you be okay with Oreo or should I snap up a pet sitter?” 

“Everything okay?” Sam asked curiously. He couldn’t help but wonder if it had anything to do with last night or if there was something else going on. 

“Just god business. Nothing to worry about. Been neglecting things a bit lately,” Gabriel tried to explain it away. 

“Okay. Well yeah. Sure. I’ll take care of Oreo,” Sam assured him, not entirely convinced of the reason but it wasn’t his place to pry. 

“Good and you think you can keep yourself out of trouble for that long?” he asked with a skeptical raise of his eyebrow. 

Sam rolled his eyes. “Yes. I’m not a child you know.”

“You say that now, but you’ve been here a little more than a week and nearly died three times already,” Gabriel said with a chuckle earning him a bitchface in response. 

“I’ll be fine,” Sam grumbled unable to technically argue with that assessment. 

“Yes, well, if you do find yourself in any sort of predicament just shoot a prayer. Otherwise I’ll see you when I get back.”

Gabriel finished his mostly chocolate pancakes and then disappeared. He had a lot of work to do. First priority was retrieving the things he couldn’t create such as spell ingredients and then locking down all his other homes. Their wards weren’t nearly as strong as the island wards and could easily be compromised under a full assault. With any luck, the fact that no one was there would save them from that and if this mess ever ended he could go back. If not, at least he would have everything irreplaceable out so if it got leveled it wouldn’t be a huge loss. 

Once Loki was gone, Sam looked down at Oreo. “He didn’t even take you out before he left did he boy? Come on.” After walking on the beach and throwing the Frisbee for the puppy for a couple hours he headed back to the house. He was definitely going to find the library today. It seemed like every time he tried he kept getting sidetracked. He knew it was probably upstairs so that’s where he headed. He passed Loki’s room. He knew what was in there. He peeked open the next door to find a gym. He wondered for a moment why on earth Loki would have a gym. He wasn’t exactly the type to work out and everything in there looked untouched anyway. He just shrugged it off. He would definitely be coming back to that room later. 

The next door he opened was huge and filled with long rows of shelves full of jars and bottles and boxes. He walked in and started looking around reading the labels and realized that this was some sort of storage space for spell or ritual ingredients. He wasn’t sure how he felt about that. When he thought of that stuff he thought of witches and he hated witches. A lot of witches served pagan gods though. Maybe Loki had some witches in his employ. Or maybe he had a spell habit. Or maybe he just liked to be prepared. Sam jumped as he heard a sound behind him and turned to see a long counter with a bunch of stacked jars on it. More kept coming though. It sounded almost like popcorn as jar after jar kept appearing on the counter. This room was already creepy and that just made it more so and Sam decided it would be better to retreat. Once he was back in the hallway and closed the door behind him he breathed a sigh of relief. He didn’t want to consider what would happen if he broke anything in there and he definitely didn’t want to think of the amusement Loki would get if he couldn’t go a few days without getting himself into trouble. 

The next room was his bedroom so he just kept going and on the other side of it, finally found the library. It was even bigger than the ingredient storage and looked like it might just hold every book ever written. Sam walked through looking in awe, but when he reached the back wall he lost his footing and had to sit down. Unfortunately, there weren’t any chairs there to sit on so he ended up on the floor just gaping up at the sight of the entire wall filled with tiny boxes containing ancient scrolls. He didn’t dare touch them. He knew how fragile those things could be and he wasn’t taking any chances until he was sure that Loki had done something to preserve them. 

Once he managed to collect himself he just walked the room, getting a feel for the organization. He didn’t realize how long had passed until he heard barking and he realized that he was lost. He followed the sound though and managed to find the door again and Oreo standing right outside it. Apparently he wasn’t allowed in the library and was good enough to know that. Or Loki had put up some kind of ward to block him. Either way. The god obviously wanted Sam to follow him downstairs and it wasn’t until he got down there that he realized it was midafternoon and neither of them had lunch. Sam knew that dogs normally only ate once, maybe twice a day, but Oreo was obviously used to eating every meal with the people so he was hungry and got tired of waiting. 

Sam wasn’t really a cook. Ok so he wasn’t a cook at all. He couldn’t even boil water. But he would make do. He found a good stock of bread, lunchmeats, cheeses, and condiments, so he made himself two thick sandwiches and one smaller one with just bread and meat for Oreo. He would have been more comfortable giving him actual dog food, but somehow he doubted there was even any here, not that Loki would ever forgive him for that anyway.


	16. Chapter 16

Sam had managed to keep both himself and Oreo in one piece over the course of the last five days he’d been alone, though there had been a couple close calls. He’d had to swim after the puppy who had been swept away while chasing waves. Then there had been the time he flipped the ATV that he had gotten around to taking out for a spin. Oreo was perfectly fine, if a little shaken up and Sam was just a little bruised and scraped up. Sam was lounging on the beach one afternoon when suddenly something felt different. He couldn’t put his finger on what it was though. Maybe something in the air or the light. Something too small for his conscious mind to pick up on, but enough to set off his hunter senses. He called Oreo, who came running out of the woods and headed nervously back to the house, cursing himself for getting complacent. He didn’t even carry any weapons anymore. 

He at least grabbed a long sturdy stick from the woods. It was pathetic, but better than nothing should he need to fight something. He made his way as quickly as he could while still being careful. He wasn’t sure if Oreo was sensing something too or if he was just picking up on Sam’s tension, but the little dog was on high alert too, ear’s standing up and twitching around at the slightest sound. Needless to say when Loki appeared in front of Sam, he was rather surprised at his reception. That crack to the head probably would have killed a human and the dog was yipping so furiously he was hopping backwards. 

Gabriel ducked and put his arms over his head. “OW! Sam! Jesus! What the hell!”

“Loki?” Sam stopped swinging and blinked a moment as the adrenaline faded from his system. “Shit! I’m sorry!”

“What was that for?” Gabriel asked rubbing his head despite the fact that it didn’t actually hurt. It was more instinctual than anything.

“Somethings was…different,” Sam said not really sure how to explain it. 

“So you decided to start creeping around beating unsuspecting gods upside the head?” 

Sam’s hand went to the back of his neck as he looked down sheepishly. “I…um…no?” 

“What do you mean different?” Gabriel asked as he realized what the hunter might be referring to. 

“I don’t know. Just…something. I can’t place exactly what, but in my experience it’s never anything good, so I grabbed Oreo and started heading back to the house, but I didn’t even have any weapons on me so I…um…”

“Grabbed a stick to beat unsuspecting people over the head with,” Gabriel finished for him. “Was this about twenty minutes ago?” he asked. 

“Yeah. Why?” Sam asked suspiciously. 

“Curious. I never would have expected a simple human to be able to perceive a dimensional shift.”

“A whosa whatsa?” 

“I pulled the island and the surrounding area out of the known dimensional range,” he said. 

“Which means?” Sam asked. 

“Ok think of it like space. You have all these planets and galaxies that represent all the different dimensions. We are now in the empty space in between.”

“Ok why?” Sam asked confounded. 

“Because I got word that things were picking up. They’re soon going to be looking for you and the person assigned to the case is good. Really good. I need to be ready to take cover and slam the door on this place completely. It’s a lot harder to find someone in the interdimensional rift than if they settle in one dimension. Especially if that dimension is where they were last known to be.”

“I thought you said this place was completely safe,” Sam asked suspiciously. 

“It was. It’s just a little more safe now.”

“This guy must be exceptionally good if he’s got you so on edge,” Sam chuckled. 

“Yeah, well. I’m not taking any chances. Especially not with my own life.”

“Does that change anything for me?” Sam asked. 

“Well it takes your chances of being rescued from nil to not a chance in hell,” he shrugged. 

“So, no then.” Sam said. “That’s all you needed to say.”

“Why use one word when twenty will do,” he smirked as he turned and started heading back towards the house not caring if he was being followed or not. He was exhausted. Anchoring such a large area into a non-dimensional dimension without altering its properties was exhausting work. And then making it completely undetectable and inaccessible to anyone other than him was, while not nearly as difficult, still took quite a bit of what he had left. 

Sam and Oreo did follow him though, Sam still asking questions, not that he had expected any different. “So we’re not actually on earth anymore? How will that affect the sun and moon cycles? Will there even be a sun and moon? What about air? Won’t we run out?”

Gabriel snapped his fingers and found blessed silence. “Everything will be the same as it was. Time will pass the same. The sun and moon will still rise and set on the same schedule. Even if he air were finite there is more than enough greenery here to sustain a few dozen people minimum.”

“But how does that work?” Sam asked. 

“Are you seriously asking me to explain the intricacies of advanced interdimensional theory?” Gabriel asked incredulously. 

“Okay…but…”

“If you’re that curious hit the library and figure it out.” 

“Okay. I’ll do that,” Sam said. He was extremely fascinated by the subject before he remembered something else he wanted to ask. “So I found some kind of storage room with a bunch of jars and bottles and stuff.”

“I’m assuming since you’re still here and have the proper number of appendages that you were careful.”

“The proper number of…um…right,” Sam gulped a little at the thought. “But anyway, while I was looking around…carefully…a bunch more jars kept appearing.”

“I was doing a little spring cleaning at my other properties. Moving all the hard to come by stuff that I can’t just snap up in case I end up in hiding here too.”

“I never even knew that most of that stuff even existed. Unicorn horns? Archangel tears? Griffin feathers?” 

“There’s a lot that humans don’t know,” was all Gabriel said as they made it back to the house and he collapsed on the couch and immediately had a dog in his lap. 

“Obviously.” Sam had been counting on getting some when Loki got back but he could tell the guy was exhausted and he wasn’t sure how much effort snapping someone up would be so he would let it go for now and let him rest. He knew he was right when Loki didn’t even get up to cook. He just snapped his fingers and a meal appeared. All in all, it was a quiet evening in as they just watched television together and Sam was surprised that there was nothing weird about it. He would have thought there would be a little bit of figuring things out and figuring out how the whole sleeping together thing affected them outside of the bedroom, but it really was just like two friends hanging out and Sam was glad. Loki was the only person he had to interact with. It would be miserable if things were weird with them.


	17. Chapter 17

The next morning found Gabriel standing on the cliffs again watching the sunrise, as he did every morning when he was here. This was his favorite part of the day. The peace and beauty just washed over him and reminded him of the beginning of creation. When this was all there was and everyone was happy. Before his family started tearing at each other’s throats. Before his brother was cast out. Before his father abandoned them. Before Gabriel had taken the blame for it. He would have scoffed if he’d realized the majestic sight he made standing there on the cliff, the wind whipping around and the sunlight highlighting his hair making it seem more golden than sandy. He would have scoffed because he would never see himself as majestic. Sure, the archangel Gabriel could have his moments, but even they were few and far between, and that wasn’t who he was anymore. He hadn’t been that in a very long time. He was the trickster god Loki now. Had been for millennia, and there was nothing even the slightest bit majestic about Loki. 

Once the sun had fully breached the horizon he headed back to the house to start on breakfast. As usual he was almost done with breakfast when Sam stumbled downstairs. Either the hunter had very good instincts or a very good nose. He was still rubbing the sleep from his eyes when Gabriel slid the plate in front of him. He’d gone for a little variety this morning and did omelets. His bacon, sausage, and cheese, Sam’s a veggie. “So I’m curious…”

“I’m shocked,” Gabriel interrupted putting a hand to his chest in mock-surprise. 

Sam snorted a laugh. “Why do you cook all the time? I mean you could just snap stuff up ready to eat.” The old question had been brought to mind again after Loki had snapped up a fully cooked dinner last night. 

“I like to cook,” he said with a shrug without elaborating. He enjoyed using his own two hands to turn nothing into something. It was almost like creation, just on a far smaller scale. If he dared to think that deeply he would see that it was a way of holding onto something that he used to be, but he avoided deep thinking like that for a reason. Delving into his psyche was a dangerous prospect. 

“That’s it? Just ‘I like to cook’?” Sam was hoping for a little more insight. 

“Do I need more of a reason?” he asked with a raised eyebrow. 

“Well no. I just…” Sam trailed off not sure exactly where he had been going with that statement.

“Did you wanna cook sometimes? I can be persuaded to share you know.”

“Oh no. Uh uh. I don’t cook. I lived on sandwiches and canned stuff while you were gone,” Sam said laughing. 

Gabriel rolled his eyes. He didn’t know why he was surprised. “Barbarian,” he muttered under his breath. “Next time I leave, I’ll stock better. If I’d known how helpless you were I would have this time.”

“I’m not helpless,” Sam protested. 

“You lived on canned food and sandwiches, you wrecked the ATV, and somehow got my dog nervous about the ocean in just five days,” Gabriel pointed out. 

“How did you know about the ATV?” Sam asked guiltily. 

“Well it’s all dented and scratched on the right side and so are you. Doesn’t take a genius to put two and two together,” Gabriel rolled his eyes. 

“And Oreo wasn’t my fault! He was chasing the waves like he always does when one swept him away. I rescued him!”

“Whatever you say Samsquatch,” Gabriel chuckled. He knew that Sam was telling the truth and had just been teasing the hunter. It wasn’t the first time that had happened after all. It was the first time the little dog had to wait for someone to swim out and rescue him though. He’d be fine in a few days. Sam was relieved that Loki wasn’t mad and didn’t blame him at least. “We’re headed out to the beach. You coming?” he asked as he snapped his fingers and cleaned up from breakfast. 

“Sure,” Sam said with a shrug and he and Loki walked along companionably for a while, Oreo darting around their feet before Loki threw the Frisbee and they ended up working out a pretty fun three-way game of Frisbee before Oreo got bored and headed off to explore in the woods. Loki snapped up a pair of hammocks and handed Sam a drink as he fell back into his own hammock. Sam followed suit, and despite the drink being a little too sweet for his usual taste, found the entire experience relaxing. It was a while before he realized that no matter how much he drank, the drink always stayed full. It was definitely handy, but it made it difficult to keep track of how much he was drinking and by the time they were headed back to the house for lunch, Sam had a good buzz going. He wasn’t drunk by any means but he was rather uninhibited. 

He was buzzed enough that when Loki went to the stove to start lunch, Sam pressed up behind him and slid his hands over the shorter man’s stomach, sliding under his shirt as he pressed his lips to Loki’s neck. Loki hummed appreciatively and tilted his head to give the hunter a better angle. “So I was thinking…”

“Hmm?” he said when it was clear that Sam was waiting for a response. 

“I did some exploring downstairs while you were gone…”

“Did you now?” Gabriel said hopefully. 

“Mmmhmm,” Sam said as he flicked one of Loki’s nipples. “Figuring out where stuff was and all that,” he whispered suggestively. And getting himself used to the colors enough to not want to vomit he didn’t say. 

“And why would you want to do that?” Gabriel asked feeling the blood pooling in his groin at the thought of it. 

“I was hoping we could make use of it…maybe after lunch?” One of Sam’s hands moved down to tease at the waistline of Loki’s shorts. 

“You want me to tie you up and have my way with you?” 

“Nope,” Sam said smugly nipping at Loki’s neck. 

“Oooh. You wanna tie me up and abuse me?” he asked realizing what Sam was getting at. 

“Mmmhmm,” Sam said running his tongue up the soft inviting skin as his hand dipped a little lower, but still not quite touching. 

Gabriel wasn’t often on that end of things and on the rare occasions he was it was usually with someone of his own creation on the other side so technically he still had control. Most of the beings he was with couldn’t be trusted with that kind of control over him, but Sam was just a human. He couldn’t hurt him. Not really, though Gabriel would play his part. “That sounds like fun,” he said rolling his hips back against Sam’s erection and Sam took the opportunity to bring his hand lower and take Gabriel’s length in his hand. 

Sam was keeping it slow this time. It would just make it that much better if they didn’t get off early and he took great pleasure in teasing Loki for the remainder of the time he was cooking. Eating was a whole new game as they both ate as seductively as they could, complete with moans, and there were plenty of teasing hands wandering under the table, and only when they were done did Loki snap his fingers and start heading downstairs, Sam on his heels. 

“So where do you want me Sammykins,” he asked as they entered the room. He figured Sam had some sort of plan. 

“Over there,” Sam pointed to the corner and Gabriel grinned and walked over there. “So what are your boundaries? And safe word?”

Gabriel laughed. “You think I need a safe word?” Like this little human could actually hurt him enough to make him give in. 

“Humor me?” Sam asked smugly. He would make Loki use it, one way or another. 

“Fine. How about…broccoli?”

“Okay. And boundaries?” Sam asked again. 

“No bloody stuff,” Gabriel said. The last thing they needed was to risk Sam getting a mouthful of archangel blood. 

“That’s it?” Sam asked as he stepped up to Loki and whispered both threateningly and suggestively in his ear, “I do have a lot to punish you for after all.”

Gabriel sucked in a sharp breath and his erection returned full force at the thought. “T-that’s it.”

“Okay. Then take off your clothes,” Sam said firmly, taking charge and he couldn’t help the rush of power he got when Loki obeyed immediately. Once he was standing there naked, Sam said, “Turn around,” and when Loki complied, he started with the cuffs hanging from the top of the wall and spread his arms up wide and then bent down to chain his ankles, making sure he was at the right height for his breath to be ghosting over Loki’s hard cock and when he thrust forward looking for more, that earned him a hard slap to the inner thigh. “I didn’t say you could move.”

Gabriel sucked in a sharp breath as he felt the welt forming and he never realized how much this would turn him on, not being in control. Of course, he still had his powers so he could take back control at any time, otherwise he would probably be a little panicked, but since he knew he could, he saw no reason not to carry this game to the end. Once the cuffs were on both of his ankles, Sam pulled the chains so that his legs were spread wide open before running his hands lightly up the inside of them, stopping way too soon as he got to his feet and walked away. 

The next thing Gabriel knew, a blindfold was settling over his eyes and he couldn’t see anything. He turned off his senses too, just to make the game fair and he gasped as he felt the hard metal pinch on his nipples and when Sam gave an experimental tug to the chain connecting the clamps his breathing increased and his cock was aching for some attention. Sure enough he got it, but not the way he wanted it. When he felt Sam’s hands on him, he felt a rush of pleasure, until he realized that the hunter was putting a cock ring on him. Oh fuck. “That’s right,” Sam said darkly. “You don’t get to cum until I say so.” He gave a quick sharp lick to the tip, lapping up the pre-cum there before moving away pulling a whimper from Gabriel. 

Sam had been warring with himself between all the misery the god had put him through in the past and his newfound desire for him, so he was enjoying getting to indulge both. He wanted Loki to hurt and he wanted to be the one to do it, which is why he was sliding his shorts down and moving behind him, lining himself up with no lube and no preparation, before slamming in hard and fast. Loki cried out and Sam wrapped a hand in his hair and yanked his head back hard and growled, “Quiet,” before biting his neck sharply as he pulled out and slammed in again. He let the muffled whimper go as he kept his hand in Loki’s hair peppering hard bites over his neck and shoulders, watching the bruises form as he slammed brutally into the strung up being. 

Gabriel was taken aback at the pain when Sam entered him. He had dampened his own resistance to pain to a more human level to make this fun, but taking someone raw like that wasn’t something he did even with his usual pain threshold and definitely never someone as big as Sam. He shuddered when Sam manhandled him. God if that wasn’t hot as hell. It didn’t take long, once the shock of it wore off for pleasure to start bleeding through the pain. He hoped that Sam would let him cum after he finished but that wasn’t to be as Sam soon spilled himself inside the impossibly tight ass and then stepped back with a sharp crack of his hand to one of his ass cheeks. 

Sam stood back and admired his work for a moment. The redness spreading in a handprint across Loki’s pert little ass, the myriad of bruises in different shades going over his neck and shoulders and the way his hair was, for once, not perfectly placed, but sticking out all over the place. He wasn’t going to give him a rest though. He tucked himself back into his shorts and grabbed the largest vibrator he could find. One that was even larger than both of their cocks and he pressed it in and turned it up to max. 

Gabriel was still raw from the pounding he had just taken when he felt the huge vibrator shoving in and when it turned on…well his arms had to hold his weight for a minute. Sam gave another sharp crack to the other side of Gabriel’s ass and the next thing he knew, given that he couldn’t actually see anything was the tug on the nipple clips while a sharp fingernail dug into the skin sliding up his inner thigh. If he was going where Gabriel thought he was going with this, he was putting a stop to it immediately, but no. Sam stopped just in time. The next thing Gabriel felt was a hand in his hair pulling his head back again while Sam trailed his teeth roughly down his throat causing Gabriel to start whimpering all over again and straining to get some friction on his aching cock, and then there was nothing again. 

When Gabriel felt the tongue swirling around the head of his dick he moaned and tried to press himself forward, only to get another slap to his thigh in the process and the beautiful warm wet mouth disappeared. Then there were lips against his ear again growling, “Behave or I stop.” Gabriel bit his lower lip and nodded profusely. Forcing himself to hold still as Sam was teasing him oh so sweetly with his mouth was the most torturous part. He had been right on the edge of blowing for a good while now but was being prevented from it by the horrible, evil thing choking him off. He wasn’t going to give Sam the satisfaction of giving in though. 

He wasn’t sure how long Sam worked him for before he was alone in the dark again and then there was a hard yank on the nipple clips, and then the brush of lips against his, too fast for him to even respond. Then a slap to his ass. After a while, Sam was back on his knees and Gabriel was very close to giving in. When Sam disappeared again Gabriel’s whimper held more than a little frustration. Then he felt the vibrator being removed from his ass and Sam’s cock pressing against him again. Seemed the hunter wanted another round. 

Sam, having gotten most of his residual anger out of his system now, slid in a little more gently this time and angled himself so that he was hitting Loki’s prostate as he slid in and out slowly, running his hands over Loki’s side and stomach, intentionally leaving his cock alone. He didn’t even punish him for meeting his thrusts with needy whines and moans falling from his lips. He wasn’t going to let Loki cum until he gave in and said the safe-word, but he was done after this so he was going to make it good. It didn’t take long before Loki was picking up volume and the words started flowing. “Oh…God Sam…Please…Harder…Faster…More…Fuck…” Sam did as he was asked. He couldn’t deny that hearing the deity beg for him was doing things to his control. 

He couldn’t resist taking Loki’s amazing cock in his hand as he sped up and could feel himself getting close. “Oh god…Fuck Sam…Need to…shit…don’t remember…the damn word…fuck…just let me…cum…please…” he cried out. Sam figured that was good enough, so he reached down and popped the cock-ring off and Loki’s screech as he blew was enough to pull Sam over the edge even the curses started and Sam suddenly had a face full of feathers. No fucking way was he moving until he was done though. He would figure out what the hell was with the feathers in a minute. He slammed himself hard and deep one last time as he spilled over. Loki was nice enough at least to wait until he’d finished before Sam suddenly found himself alone in the basement, the nipple clips lying on the floor with the rest.


	18. Chapter 18

Gabriel reappeared about as far away as he could manage, which happened to be Antarctica. He snapped his wings away and cursed fluently in multiple languages, most of which were no longer known to man if they ever had been to begin with. This was a nightmare. He should have known better than to play games that could have him losing all sense of control. He had no idea how to handle this now or where to go from here, so he did what he was best at. He ran. He knew he couldn’t run forever. Hell he couldn’t run for long at all, but maybe some time to get his head together. First step, get smashed and try to forget it ever happened. He disappeared and reappeared again in Russia, walked into the bar, and ordered the strongest drink they had, which in Russia was saying something. 

 

Sam was left blinking at the now empty space in front of him as a few stray feathers fell to the floor. That was…unexpected. Did gods have wings? Why hadn’t he ever seen them before? And why had Loki disappeared like that? He picked up the feathers and couldn’t shake the sense of familiarity he felt. As if he had seen them somewhere before. He marveled at how soft and light they were as he puzzled over the situation. He got the sense that there was some kind of secret here. Something he shouldn’t know, and that just made him determined to figure it out so he hit the library. 

Loki didn’t come back that evening, leaving Sam and Oreo on their own for dinner and Sam absentmindedly wondered if this was going to become a habit. If Loki was going to disappear every time they slept together. By the time Sam’s eyelids started drooping he had compiled a list of sentient beings that had wings and given how complete Loki’s library was he figured it was a pretty comprehensive list. He would start narrowing it down tomorrow. 

The next morning, he had oatmeal and toast for breakfast, sharing with Oreo of course, and then hit the library again. He started with anything connected to the old gods. Valkyrie and harpies in particular, but they didn’t really fit. Their feathers were said to be rough and sharp like blades, so he moved on to the fae and fae-adjacent beings, but quickly struck all of them from the list. Their wings were membranous, not feathery. Same with the creatures like dragons and gargoyles. They had more leathery and bat-like wings. 

He had only two items left on his list, angels and griffons. Unwilling to seriously consider the fact that Loki may be an angel, he started with the griffon, going a little deeper than the composition of their wings. He quickly realized that wasn’t an option though. For one thing, they had very limited speech. They mostly communicated telepathically. Plus, their powers were far more limited than Loki had shown. Sam gulped heavily and pulled the book on angels over to begin reading. It started with the lowest class of angel and Sam thought for a moment that Loki might be a cherub given his playfulness and geniality which were apparently indicative of that class, even though his cruel streak didn’t really fit in. The powers were all wrong though, so he moved on to the seraph class. They seemed to fit the other side of his personality, the cruel streak and the drive for justice, but the powers still weren’t right. Besides, while he only got a glance at the wings, he was pretty sure there were more than two of them. 

He took a deep breath and turned to the last section. Archangels. And sure enough, there was the depiction of three sets of wings. The powers matched; the ability to shape reality, create and manage dimensions, create and destroy on both large and small scales, alter perception, heal, and the list went on. Was Loki seriously an archangel? But according to the book there were only four archangels. This book didn’t go into detail on who they were or what they were like though. Sam wondered if there would be a book here that did so he took a moment to think over what he knew. The archangels had been mentioned before. Lucifer was in the cage that Sam was supposed to spring. Michael was trying to get him sprung, which left two. Sam wracked his brain to think of any other archangels he’d ever heard of and only one came to mind. Gabriel. He thought back on everything he knew about Gabriel. He was the archangel of justice and mercy, which kind of fit. He was all about justice and he had shown mercy to Sam on many occasions. 

He couldn’t remember ever hearing anything about Gabriel being a jokester or playing pranks, but if there was one thing he’d learned within five minutes of reading the angel book, it was that humans had a lot of things wrong and the little they did know barely scratched the surface. The thing that cinched it for him though was the feathers. In every depiction he could remember of the archangel Gabriel, he always had golden wings. He knew there was still another archangel he couldn’t remember so there was still a chance he was wrong, but he was fairly certain that Loki was Gabriel and wasn’t that just a kick in the pants. 

He thought back over all their interactions, from trying to kill him at the college, the lesson that Loki/Gabriel had tried to teach him about letting go of Dean, the way he’d brought him here and refused to allow him to leave so that he wouldn’t start the end of the world. Sam realized that Michael and Lucifer were his brothers, so if Lucifer got released he would have to watch his brothers kill each other and he felt nothing but sympathy for that situation. He couldn’t imagine how he would feel in Gabriel’s place. The biggest thing that stuck with him though was the fact that he had slept with an archangel. He had…shit…he remembered how brutal he had been with him and at the time he told himself that he was punishing him for mystery spot and for keeping him prisoner, but now…well that excuse didn’t really hold water anymore. He could have stopped it at any time though. He proved that with how easily he disappeared, and he had seemed to enjoy it, at least for the most part. 

By the time he got all that figured out, it was lunchtime so he went downstairs, made some lunch for himself and the pup and went out to the beach for the afternoon. He could get lost in his thoughts just as well out here as he could in there and this way Oreo could run. He tossed the Frisbee and repeated the action every time it was pressed into his hand, but otherwise he just stood there, looking over the water, lost in thought. It was like everything was falling into place. Questions he hadn’t even realized that he had were being answered and his own thoughts and feelings were clearing up. 

It was far easier, for example, to accept being stuck here now that he knew that it was the doing of an archangel rather than a monster. Now that he knew that the reasons that he had given were genuine. He just wanted to stop his family from fighting. Something Sam was well familiar with. As comfortable as he had started to become here, he had still been holding himself back. Especially with Loki or Gabriel or whoever he was. He had been so afraid to risk crossing the line into actually liking him and becoming his friend that he had been keeping himself from even considering the possibility. It would have been a betrayal, not only to his brother but to his father too, to get all chummy with a monster. Now though…it changed everything. And now that he was actually letting himself like the guy, he was realizing that it might even be more than that and he groaned. He remembered very well the whole speech about no relationships, no feelings, and no monogamy, and if he really was starting to fall for Loki this was really going to hurt. 

Sam didn’t realize the time until the sun had started to set and he quickly called Oreo and started heading back to the house. Sam had just finished eating when his host returned, appearing in the center of the room next to the couch the hunter was lazing on. Sam smirked. “Welcome back, Gabriel.” He said pointedly.

Gabriel’s head snapped up towards the hunter as he exclaimed, “What the fuck?!” Sam just raised both eyebrows in response and Gabriel let out a heavy sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose. “I’m not drunk enough for this,” he muttered as he walked out and right towards the lounge…and the booze.


	19. Chapter 19

Sam of course was right on his heels. That reaction enough to remove the last of his doubts in his theory. “How are you an archangel? Why wouldn’t you tell me? Would they really be after you? Are the other angels who you’re hiding from?”

“Still not drunk enough for this,” Gabriel muttered. Damn hunter was like a dog with a bone. 

“Is there any such thing as drunk enough for this?” Sam asked skeptically. 

“Probably not, but I’m definitely gonna make a go of it,” Gabriel said as he turned up the bottle and drained half of it at once. He knew that he would have to tell Sam something or he would never get a moment’s peace so he sighed and said, “Look. Sam. Heaven started looking too much like hell so I bailed. They all think I’m dead and it has to stay that way. They wouldn’t hesitate to kill me themselves if they knew what I was doing. And as for why I didn’t tell you, you’re talking about my deepest darkest secret. Why should I tell you?”

Sam was taken a little aback at that. As much the words as the bitter tone they were spoken in. It wasn’t something he’d heard from Gabriel before. “I get that, but if I’m stuck here with you for the rest of my life, don’t you think I should know who you really are?” 

“You knew who I really am. You just didn’t know who I used to be. I’m not Gabriel anymore. I haven’t been in a long time,” he snapped. 

“Why not?” Sam asked gently. It definitely seemed like there were some unresolved issues there. 

“Because Gabriel was a weak-willed child who cared too much about everyone and everything and let it destroy him,” he said throwing the now empty bottle at the wall and listening to it shatter even as he grabbed another one. He took a deep shaky breath as he opened it and took a long swig from it. “Just leave me alone, Sam.” He said as he put his head in his hands. 

He wasn’t entirely sure that Gabriel needed to be alone right now, but at the same time, he wasn’t sure he would be given much choice so he decided to go gracefully, but not without one final piece of advice. “Okay just one thing though,” he said as he put a hand on Gabriel’s shoulder, causing the archangel to look up at him. “Maybe what you need is to find a happy medium.” Sam hesitated for a moment before he leaned down and pressed a short chaste kiss to Gabriel’s lips. “You don’t have to be cold to be strong.” He gave the shoulder beneath his hand a squeeze as he turned and walked from the room. 

Gabriel frowned after him before turning his attention back to the bottle where it stayed for the remainder of the night. He knew he couldn’t drown himself in the bottle forever though so he pulled himself out of it in time to watch the sunrise from his spot on the cliffs and found that it grounded him in such a way that he felt ready to face the world again, so he replaced his daily mask and headed back to the house to start breakfast, now completely sober and when Sam stumbled downstairs and plopped into his usual chair as Gabriel was finishing up he was met with a cheery, “Morning Samsquatch.”

“Morning Gabe,” Sam muttered still half asleep. 

To his credit Gabriel only faltered slightly at the name. It had been so long since he’d heard it fall so effortlessly from anyone’s lips and it served as a reminder of everything he wanted to forget, including his loss of composure last night. He refrained from saying anything though. If the hunter was determined to call him that then there was nothing he could do about it, and making a fuss would very likely make him more determined to do so. Besides, he was trapped here and would never even be able to spill the secret to another living being, so it didn’t really matter much excepting his own comfort. Better to just deal with it then let the hunter know it bothered him. He’d get used to it. 

“So I was gonna hit the waterpark after breakfast if you wanna come,” Gabriel suggested. 

Sam was torn. Now that he realized that he was starting to fall for the archangel, part of him wanted to stay close and the other part wanted to keep his distance so he wouldn’t end up getting hurt due to Gabriel’s opinion on feelings. In the end, Sam decided that he couldn’t avoid the other man forever, especially not if Gabriel ended up in hiding too and whatever happened was going to happen so he might as well enjoy what he could get while he could get it. “Only if you teach me how to dive,” Sam said with a smile. 

“Sure thing Sammykins,” Gabriel quipped. 

Sam was slightly annoyed that he was acting like last night never happened. That Sam hadn’t seen behind the masks that were, once more, firmly in place. And damned if those masks didn’t annoy the hell out of him too. It was like you had to peel through layers to get to the real Gabriel. The one he wanted to see; wanted to know. And those layers might as well be steel plates. He would wear him down though. Eventually. Apparently he had the rest of his life after all. 

Oreo’s newfound nervousness with the ocean obviously didn’t extend to all forms of water, since he jumped in the doggy pool without reservation, leaving Gabriel and Sam to the people area. After a brief diving tutorial from the dock, Gabriel left Sam there to practice while he hit the high dive a few times. It didn’t last very long for either of them though. Sam found diving on his own, especially from such a low height, kind of boring and quickly dragooned Gabriel into some fun. 

It didn’t take long for Gabriel to realize that Sam was being very touchy feely. And not in a fun handsy kind of way. More in a soft touches and sweet embraces kind of way. If that’s the kind of mood he was in then Gabriel would give him someone or someones who would appreciate it. He snapped his fingers and the hunter suddenly found himself with a beautiful brunette set of twins in skimpy bikini’s pressed to either side of him. Gabriel supposed he had been rather slack on his promise to provide other entertainment, but in his defense he had been rather distracted. 

Sam started at the sudden company, but definitely didn’t want to let on to Gabriel that he was the one Sam really wanted so he plastered a grin on his face and put an arm around each of the girls and gave Gabriel a grateful nod. If he suspected that Sam might have feelings for him Sam would never be able to get through to the archangel and with any luck, seeing Sam with other people might just make him feel something, even if it was just possessiveness or annoyance. And it wasn’t like these were real people with real feelings that could be hurt after all, so he didn’t have to feel bad about playing these games. 

Given the fact that they were alone on the island and he didn’t see the need to hide anything from Gabriel, especially since the archangel provided the entertainment, it wasn’t long before he had both girls completely naked, not that you could see much with the water in the way, but he could sure feel, and feel he did. He had his cock in one and his fingers in the other as his other hand moved between all the available breasts, and his lips had more than enough options as well. The way the girls played with each other just as much, drove him even higher, and he had to pull himself back more than once so that he didn’t end this too soon. 

When he looked around for the archangel and saw that he had snapped up his own entertainment and was watching Sam with a smirk as he drove into her, Sam sucked in a sharp breath. He could see the muscles rolling under Gabriel’s skin and see the water and/or sweat glistening off his body as the woman that he had pinned against one of the ladders keened and moaned and it didn’t take long before Sam was spilling himself into his own girl. 

As Gabriel watched Sam getting into things with his presents, he found himself getting more than a little turned on too, so he snapped up his own girl to have his way with. His eyes kept straying to Sam’s muscular body, even as he played with the curvy blonde he’d snapped up. When Sam looked up at him Gabriel caught his eye and smirked, which only widened when he saw the effect that his own activities were having on the hunter. 

After Sam was spent, he and his girls spent a little time going triple down the slides and they both hung on Sam like he was a magnet. He had to admit all the attention was nice, even if it was fabricated. An hour later found him leaning on his elbows on the dock while his chest down was still in the water and a girl hanging off each arm as he just ran his hands over their bodies and kissed lips and faces and necks and shoulders leisurely. Every so often he would look up and see what Gabriel was up to and he had apparently gotten bored of his own bimbo and was back on the high dive. 

Gabriel was enjoying the peace that he didn’t get enough of since Sam had come here. He would have to remember to distract the hunter like that more often. He was standing at the top of the high dive, getting ready to jump, when the screeching in his head started again as the angels rejoiced about the fact that Dean was alive again. He had been standing a little too close to the edge though, so when the noise started and he stumbled, grabbing his head, and toppled forward off the platform.


	20. Chapter 20

Sam could see that something was wrong, even before Gabriel started to fall, and he was sure of it when, instead of launching in a graceful arc he was plummeting haphazardly towards the water. Sam remembered the feeling of hitting the water back first and how it had nearly knocked him unconscious so, girls forgotten, he pushed off the dock and swam frantically for where Gabriel was just now hitting the water and he dove down after him and pulled him back to the surface. 

Once they broke the surface, Gabriel chuckled and drawled, “My hero.” 

Sam realized that he had never been in any real danger, but he couldn’t exactly fight his instincts. Now was a different story though as he rolled his eyes and shoved Gabriel away and back under water. Gabriel surfaced laughing and said, “Geez. First you save me then you try to drown me. Way to give a guy whiplash.”

“Yeah, whatever,” Sam muttered trying not to let his embarrassment show. That would just make Gabriel pick on him even more. “What was that about anyway?” 

Gabriel didn’t even hesitate before saying, “Nothing you need to worry your pretty little head over. I’ll be back later.” 

Sam was suddenly staring at an empty space where the archangel just was. He was more than curious about what was going on, but he knew that Gabriel wouldn’t tell him if he didn’t want to. It drove him nuts, but he would try to wheedle it out of him later. In the meantime, though, swimming alone wasn’t exactly safe. Not for a human anyway, and he wasn’t about to trust Gabriel’s constructs with his life so he got out of the water, whistling for Oreo and headed back towards the beach, resting his arms across the shoulders of the still topless girls as they wandered leisurely down the beach. Sam stopped every so often to toss the Frisbee for Oreo and laugh at the puppy’s antics and they all had fun. All in all, it was the perfect picture of paradise and Sam was almost able to forget all the issues he had swirling beneath the surface. 

Gabriel hadn’t gone far; just to the cliffs. He just needed some space. He didn’t need to be processing the fact that Sam’s brother had come back to life with Sam right there next to him. The hunter was way too perceptive and it was too risky. He had no intention of telling Sam about this. He was finally settling in and accepting his place here. The tantrum when Sam got here would be nothing compared to if he knew his brother were alive. He would never stop trying to leave and be a constant thorn in Gabriel’s side. No. He could never see Dean again. No need to torture him with the knowledge. 

By the time Sam’s leisurely stroll brought him back to the house, Gabriel was at the stove cooking lunch, this time with a very shapely woman pressed behind him, pawing at him. Sam did his best to ignore it as he made his way to the couch with his own company. It didn’t bother him nearly as much as he expected it to, but it still stung. He had realized in his brief time with the twins that there was a difference between real and fabricated. It wasn’t a huge difference, but it was noticeable, and the idea that Gabriel would rather have that than Sam sting a bit. 

His girls were filling a hole that he hadn’t even realized he’d had before. The one where he craved touch and affection. Other than Jess back at Stanford he’d never had anyone be cuddly with him before and even with Jess it was more of a special occasion type thing. Their schedules were so crazy that it didn’t leave a lot of time for that sort of thing. It was the main reason they had moved in together, so that at least they could have that extra little bit of time. He settled on the couch with a girl curled up to each side as he tried to watch television if it weren’t for the way his eyes kept straying to the activity in the kitchen.

Gabriel’s curvy, busty, completely naked redhead had his shorts pushed low on his hips as her long black fingernails raked across his chest and the other hand rubbed the archangel slowly outside of his shorts. She was making indecent sounds as she sucked the sauce off of his fingers sensually and rubbed herself against his back. He let out a stuttered moan as one of her sharp nails raked roughly across his nipple. 

By the time Sam saw her hand reach down inside Gabriel’s shorts and start stroking him, his own shorts were rather uncomfortable and soon one of his girls was on her knees in front of him, placing wet open mouth kisses over his stomach and looking up at him through her dark lashes as if asking for permission. He lifted his hips and shoved his shorts to his knees, freeing his hard length and she wasted no time taking him in her mouth. The other girl took his hand and started sucking his fingers just as slowly as the first was sucking his cock. In fact, they were working exactly in tandem. Everything one did, the other did as well and it was driving Sam crazy. He moved his other hand to her small pert breasts and started kneading them, pinching her nipples in the process. 

When she pressed his wet hand between her legs, his fingers went to work on her and he pulled her over his lap, keeping her high enough on her knees that it wouldn’t interfere with the amazing blowjob he was getting as he took her breasts in his mouth, using the hand that wasn’t fingering her to hold her up against him. 

Gabriel had been, as usual, keeping his girl from getting him overly worked up as he cooked, but the sight of what was going on with Sam was working at cross-purposes to that. He watched as the girl sucking him off pulled off of his cock and positioned it for the girl straddling the hunter, and he was so hungry for more that he just slammed her down on him. Sam held out the hand that had been inside the one that was now riding him and the first girl took it in her mouth, tasting the other on his fingers. The girl behind Gabriel had her hand moving faster on his cock now, feeding off his desires as he was getting way too close to screwing up lunch. 

When he heard the sexy growl come from Sam as he suddenly flipped their position so the girl was lying on her back on the couch as he drove into her, he couldn’t help himself anymore. Lunch forgotten he spun and slammed his own girl against the wall, lifting her legs around his waist as he pounded into her. When he saw Sam position the other girl so she was kneeling over the first and her moans started as she was getting eaten out while Sam kissed her, Gabriel’s pace rapidly increased and he couldn’t take his eyes off Sam. The way he moved, the hard muscles rippling under his skin, those huge hands as they moved over the soft flesh he was presented with and suddenly Gabriel was spilling himself inside the woman he’d snapped up and then she was gone and he was trying to salvage their meal. 

It didn’t bother Gabriel that Sam was enjoying the women. That’s what he’d snapped them up for after all. At least that’s what he told himself. It did bother him, more than he was willing to admit, that once they had started on him, he hadn’t even glanced over at Gabriel’s own show once. Gabriel began to realize that he may actually like the way Sam’s eyes would track his every move and trail over however much of his body was showing at any given time. Surely that was just his desire to always be the center of attention though. Wasn’t it?


	21. Chapter 21

Dean made his way back to Bobby’s house and after being subjected to every test known to the old hunter, he was finally greeted the way he should have been. With a hug. Bobby was asking him how he was back, but Dean had more important things on his mind. Namely, “Where’s Sam?” He’d tried his brother’s numbers but they were all disconnected. 

“I haven’t heard from the kid in almost two months. Can’t get in touch with him and believe me I’ve tried,” Bobby told him. 

“Two months!” Dean exclaimed. This called for drastic measures. He had hoped to be able to do things the easy way, but no matter. No one knew Sam as well as Dean did. Not even Sam. He made some phone calls only to find that all trace of his brother had disappeared off the face of the earth a little over a month ago. He tracked down the alias that Sam had been using for his phone and credit cards, but there was no activity at all, not even a text message or a soda. That didn’t make any sense. Dean had assumed that Sam had done something to bring him back, but if he’d been missing for over a month…it just didn’t add up. And it worried Dean far more than he would admit. 

The way Bobby saw it they had two serious questions. Where was Sam and how did Dean get out of hell? He suggested a psychic he knew by the name of Pamela. She had nothing at all on Sam. Just a complete blank. Dean thought it meant Sam was dead at first, but she assured him that it didn’t. If he were dead she would have been able to at least sense his spirit if not communicate with it, but there was nothing at all. Almost like just asking the question was enough to send her into a void of nothingness. She suggested that he was well-hidden, by much more than normal human means. The next question though, how Dean got out of hell, was far more traumatic. They managed to get a name, but poor Pamela ended up with her eyes burnt out. 

Dean and Bobby had the, probably not too smart, idea to summon whatever it was and force it to face them directly. When the man walked into the shed blowing out all the lights in the process, didn’t react at all to the demon knife or the salt gun, and then knocked Bobby unconscious with just a touch of his fingers, Dean would never admit that he nearly shat himself. Hearing that it was an angel and that god himself commanded that Dean be rescued from hell would have had the hunter laughing if the situation weren’t so serious. It took a few days before he finally came to believe it. 

Ironically it was the fact that Castiel had a job for him that did it. No one ever did anything for free. Not even angels. Dean made a deal with him. He would do the job they wanted him to on one condition. They help him find his brother. 

Castiel had to check with his superiors, but returned the next day to accept Dean’s terms. In fact, his superiors had seemed rather anxious for him to find the younger Winchester as well. Castiel was curious, but didn’t read too much into it. They were likely worried about the havoc he could cause on his own. He knew the stories about the boy and the demon blood. They all did. Castiel threw himself into this task with all the gusto he could manage, but two weeks later he was no closer to tracking down the younger Winchester, two seals had broken, and Dean was losing patience. 

 

Sam had decided that he was going to try to keep his distance from Gabriel to some degree. He knew exactly what would happen if the archangel found out that he was falling for him. He would get laughed at and made fun of for the rest of his life, and given that he was trapped here with no one other than Gabriel for real company, that wouldn’t be fun at all. He would wait for Gabriel to come to him. 

Gabriel, however, had no intention of going to Sam. Especially not after the somewhat disturbing realization that it almost bothered him when Sam was with the girls and ignoring him. No way was he going to risk getting emotionally involved here. He hadn’t expected it to be so easy to do. Sam’s words, ‘you don’t have to be cold to be strong’, echoed in his head but he just swatted the thought away. What did he know? He was just a limited human. He couldn’t possibly grasp the big picture. 

Gabriel should have realized the danger that morning when Sam’s touching got to him enough to make him snap up some girls just to get some space. Normally he would just endure the attention and it didn’t make a difference either way but for some reason, with Sam, it made him uncomfortable. He hadn’t recognized that discomfort at first, but now that he was analyzing it, he could pinpoint it as some sort of emotion. He just couldn’t figure out what emotion it was. It didn’t much matter though. Any emotion had the chance to turn very bad for him and was, thus, unacceptable.

They both made a game of trying to drive each other crazy, and this game went on for weeks. Sam would return to the house to find Gabriel wrapped up in some woman or man in full view of the whole house. Gabriel would do the same. The only difference where Gabriel was concerned was that he knew exactly who Sam would be with at any given time because he snapped them up for the hunter. It didn’t make it any easier to watch though, not that he showed it. 

Sam was almost the one to break first. He had come home to find Gabriel on his knees in the living room with a large cock in his mouth. When the archangel looked up and saw him standing there, he somehow managed a smirk despite the fact that his mouth was full and winked at the hunter before drawing himself all the way back, releasing him with a loud pop, then swirling his tongue around the tip. He made it very clear that he was taunting Sam as he continued with giving what must be an amazing blowjob if the guys moans were anything to go by. 

Sam mostly managed to control his reactions, but he couldn’t help the fire of jealousy that burned in his eyes and the brief clenching of his fists, and Gabriel certainly didn’t miss it with his keen eyes, especially since he had been specifically looking for that reaction. He wanted Sam. A real person was far more fulfilling than these empty shells, and he would make the hunter come to him. One way or another. 

Sam only lasted two more days before Gabriel found himself slammed against the wall, being kissed senseless. He smirked into the kiss as he quickly shifted their positions so that Sam was the one being pressed against the wall and their clothes disappeared. “If you wanted more all you had to do was ask,” he purred as he rubbed himself against the hunter. They had both been denying themselves what they really wanted for weeks, so it was no time at all before they were both hard and leaking. 

Gabriel picked Sam’s legs up so they were wrapped around his waist as one of his fingers breeched the hunter’s tight hole. He definitely wasn’t going to last long here, but he didn’t really care. As he was inserting the third finger, he pulled away from the wall and carried Sam towards the couch. He planned to flip Sam over, but Sam had a grip on his back holding them in their current position facing each other. Gabriel could have broken it, but decided that if Sam wanted it this way, he might as well oblige. 

He lifted the hunters hips and slammed himself inside as Sam pulled him down for another kiss. Sam was making an effort to move slowly, making it very clear what he wanted and when he refused to match Gabriel’s fast pace, Gabriel was forced to slow down to Sam’s. The hunter’s hands roamed Gabriel’s body as the archangel moved slowly inside him, and by the time Sam allowed the pace to begin speeding up, the exertion was only part of the reason Gabriel’s pointless heart was going a mile a minute. 

Gabriel pried himself from the hunter’s grip and picked himself up to his knees, throwing Sam’s legs over his shoulder and started pounding into the hunter hard and fast, stroking Sam’s as yet untended erection in time with his frantic thrusts. Gabriel was the first to blow, slamming hard and deep into Sam’s tight ass, but Sam wasn’t far behind as the feeling of Gabriel’s cum filling him up pushed him over the edge. 

Gabriel couldn’t resist the urge to bring his cum covered fingers to his mouth and lick them off as he took in the sight of the completely debauched hunter beneath him. “Mmm. Delicious,” he said with a wink as he pulled out and snapped his fingers, at once cleaning them up and replacing their clothes before he sauntered out the door. 

Sam managed to suppress his sigh of disappointment until Gabriel was gone. He wasn’t sure why he had expected any different. Well he hadn’t expected different really, but he had hoped for different. He had been sure he felt some sort of connection there. Something beyond just good sex. And it seemed like Gabriel had felt it too, but maybe he was wrong. 

Gabriel headed out the door and went for a walk on the beach. He needed to get some distance. He should have broken Sam’s grip at the beginning and flipped the hunter over like he wanted. He should have enforced his dominance rather than letting Sam set the pace. He shouldn’t have given the hunter as much control as he did. Things were getting out of hand and Gabriel didn’t know how to deal with it. That ache in his heart that he had successfully ignored for millennia; the one that yearned for love, for affection; was starting to pull at him more and more the longer he was around the damn hunter.


	22. Chapter 22

Sam headed towards the lounge/game room to drown his disappointment. He had no intention of getting nearly as drunk as he had the night when he first kissed Gabriel, but he needed to take the edge off. When Gabriel got back a couple hours later, Sam was feeling pretty loose and had come up with a new idea to get through the archangel’s masks. 

Gabriel raised an eyebrow when he saw Sam drinking alone. True to his word after the first time, it wasn’t something the hunter often indulged in. “So what brought this one on?” he asked curiously, almost afraid of the answer. 

“Just miss my brother,” Sam said quickly. No way could he tell the archangel the real reason, and he did miss Dean a lot. He hadn’t been able to shake the feeling lately that he was letting his brother down somehow so it was a valid excuse. It just wasn’t the one that pushed him over the edge. It was just something that had been burning in the back of his mind and eating at him. 

“Understandable,” Gabriel said, not showing his relief as he sat down next to Sam and grabbed his own glass. He was never one for letting someone drink alone after all. 

Gabriel almost choked on his fresh drink when Sam asked, “How do you deal with missing your brothers?” 

He drained the rest of the glass in one draw and set it, none too gently back on the counter as he refilled it. “I don’t want to talk about it,” he said curtly. 

Sam had expected that response. If he couldn’t break Gabriel’s wall physically, then he would try verbally. He knew that the archangel had emotions trapped in there somewhere. He had intimated as much when Sam found out who he really was. It was just a matter of pulling them to the surface and Sam was nothing if not determined. “It’s just that…every day it’s like a part of me is missing. I want to turn to him and tell him a joke or see something that he would love. Don’t you ever get that feeling? I mean I know it’s been a lot longer for you, but does it ever get easier?”

“Sam…” Gabriel said warningly, narrowing his eyes at the hunter. 

Sam was either too drunk to care or too drunk to notice the land mine he was poking at and even he wasn’t sure which. “I mean, it must be hard, especially with everything between Michael and Lucifer…” That was as far as he got before he was flying against the wall as half the glass in the room shattered. 

“No Sam! It doesn’t! Is that what you want to hear? It’s a gaping hole that will gnaw at you every day for the rest of your life. It will tear you apart until it’s easier to just lock it away than face it and it will never stop. Is that what you want to hear? Are you fucking happy now?!”

Gabriel started at the hand on his shoulder as he heard Sam start to speak again. “Gabriel, I’m…” and suddenly the hunter’s hand was suspended on nothing and there was an empty space where the archangel was a moment ago. Sam let out a heavy sigh. Okay, so Gabriel’s walls were riddled with explosives. He stretched as he tried to work out the soreness in his body. It wasn’t like being slammed into walls was anything new to him and he considered himself lucky that it hadn’t been worse. He was sure that Gabriel could have killed him with relatively little effort after all. 

He made his way up to bed and lay awake for a long time thinking about both Dean and Gabriel. He knew now why Gabriel kept his emotions locked away so tightly, but he still disagreed. He still wanted to get through. He wanted to be someone that the archangel could lean on. He wanted to be able to help him deal with it, not run away from it. Even he knew that it wasn’t healthy. It would be so easy to just let it go and be content with the distant but fun version of himself that the archangel showed, but he didn’t think he could. Somehow he had fallen in love with Gabriel and he couldn’t just turn his back on that. He couldn’t pretend that Gabriel was alright when he knew full well that he wasn’t. 

He drifted off to sleep with a heavy heart, which is likely what contributed to his restlessness during the night and his inability to get back to sleep after four in the morning. He finally pulled himself out of bed and after seeing that it was a clear night and the moon was full and bright in the sky he decided to take a walk. He found himself heading towards the cliffs just as the first rays of sun began to peek over the horizon. 

He knew that Gabriel had heard him come up by the tension that suddenly appeared in his shoulders. He made no move to speak or acknowledge Sam’s presence in any way though. Sam walked up a little closer and said in awe, “It’s beautiful.”

“What do you want, Sam?” he asked shortly, still stinging from the previous night. 

“Couldn’t sleep,” he replied.

“Good for you,” Gabriel said sarcastically. 

Sam winced at the harshness in Gabriel’s voice and stance. Maybe he had gone too far. “I’ll just go,” he said sadly as he turned to leave. 

Sam heard a heavy sigh and a hand reached out to grab his before he got far. “You don’t have to go,” Gabriel said softly. He was still feeling a little guilty about his outburst last night, particularly throwing Sam across the room even though it hadn’t been entirely intentional, and he knew that he shouldn’t have been so curt with Sam just now. It was just that having his peace intruded on by the same person who had just thrown him into so much turmoil rubbed him the wrong way. 

Sam couldn’t help but smile when Gabriel didn’t let go of his hand once he stopped walking away and he moved back up so that he was standing next to the archangel and threaded their fingers together. “Do you come up here often?” Sam asked gingerly. 

“Every morning. It’s…peaceful,” Gabriel said letting himself relax. After a long pause he said, almost inaudibly, “It…reminds me of home.”

Sam’s only response was to give the archangel’s hand a reassuring squeeze. He wasn’t going to push. Not now. He couldn’t help but hope that Gabriel would feel up to sharing though. That he would open up. At least a little bit. 

Gabriel, soothed by the peace of the moment and Sam’s quiet support, kept talking. “There was this game we used to play. We would sit there and watch the cosmo’s spinning while we tried to come up with ways to make it better. The sun…it was Lucifer’s idea. He said there needed to be more light in the universe. Then…then he was overcome by his own darkness and everything fell apart. It was like removing that one crucial piece that brought the whole house of cards tumbling down.”

Sam moved behind Gabriel and pulled him back against him, resting his cheek on the top of the archangel’s head, still not saying a word, but making it clear that he was there for him. 

“Everyone was at each other’s throats all the time. Suspicion and doubt ran rampant. If even Lucifer, the light bringer, the kindest and most generous of all the archangels, could be destroyed by the darkness no one was safe. Every little thing outside the norm became cause for distrust. Then Father…he left. He abandoned us all and it just got worse. We couldn’t tell the little seraphs, so that left us remaining archangels to fight about it. I…I took the brunt of it. I didn’t take well to the idea of conformity and finally…I couldn’t take it anymore. I left too. There was nothing left for me there.”

Sam felt the tears fall on his arm that was wrapped around the archangel’s chest and he just held him tighter. He couldn’t hold back his words anymore. “I’m so sorry. I can’t imagine how devastating that must have been for you.”

Gabriel stiffened in his arms, almost like he’d forgotten the hunter was there. He hastily wiped his eyes and said in an almost decent approximation of an unconcerned tone, “It doesn’t matter. It was a long time ago.” He shrugged and started to turn and walk away but this time it was Sam who grabbed his hands to stop him from leaving. 

“Don’t do that, Gabriel. Please.”

“Do what, Samsquatch?” he asked with a forced smile 

“Don’t close yourself off again. Let me in. Please,” Sam replied sadly. 

“Sam…” Gabriel said with a weary sigh before his lips were otherwise occupied as Sam kissed him slow and sweet. He let himself melt into it for a moment, but then he disappeared, leaving a frustrated hunter standing on the cliffs with an amazing sunrise as a backdrop.


	23. Chapter 23

Gabriel reappeared in one of his other homes and started pacing as he grabbed a lamp and tossed it at a wall. Stupid pain in the ass hunters and their stupid pain in the ass feelings. He knew exactly what Sam was doing. He wasn’t stupid. Gabriel was his only option so he was trying to make the best of things and use him to fulfil his need for love. It was ridiculous. He couldn’t just be happy with sex and fun? What was even more ridiculous is that Gabriel was falling for it. Falling for him. He knew better. It was stupid and reckless. 

He paused in his pacing as an idea came to him. It might just get Sam off his back. No it probably would get Sam off his back. It would hasten his need to go into hiding himself, but that was likely inevitable anyway. Overall it was the best option he could see. He did a little scouting before reappearing in the run down old house. It wouldn’t do to be spotted by his little brother after all. He created a minor pocket dimension within the house, transporting the sleeping hunter into it. That way he wouldn’t have to worry about being interrupted. 

He snapped his fingers and a bucket of cold water dumped on the hunter who startled awake, gun in hand. “Morning Deano,” he chirped. 

“What the fuck do you want?” Dean asked heatedly as he cursed the fact that he didn’t have any stakes handy. 

“Geez. I come to do a guy a favor and get treated with such hostility,” Gabriel said shaking his head. 

“What kind of favor would you possibly do for me?” Dean asked suspiciously. The only way out of this was through. He couldn’t hurt the damn trickster so he didn’t have much choice but to listen.

“Well it’s really more of a favor for your brother, but I suppose you would benefit too,” Gabriel mused aloud. 

He had Dean’s attention as soon as he mentioned Sam. “What the hell did you do to my brother you son of a bitch?” 

“Touchy touchy. Little Sammykins is perfectly fine. Living the high life away from all the doom and gloom.”

“Where is he?” Dean snarled. 

“A little place of my own devising. Plucked him right out of the manipulations of heaven and hell so he could live happy and free,” Gabriel said theatrically. 

“Right. Out of the kindness of your heart too I presume,” Dean said with biting sarcasm. 

“I wouldn’t say that. Fact is, as long as he’s on the chess board the game will eventually come to an end. I don’t particularly want the game to end…the game being life on earth…so there’s that.”

“Why don’t you try making some sense?” Dean snapped. 

“Ok. Let’s try this again and this time I’ll use small words so you can understand,” he ignored the angry growl that came from the hunter at that. “Sam has to be the one to break the last seal to release Lucifer. Both heaven and hell were trying to move him into position to make him do that. I took him out of the game so they can’t. Capice?” 

“No I don’t ‘capice’. Lilith is out here breaking seals. She doesn’t need Sam’s help, and he would never do it even if she did.”

Gabriel sighed and shook his head. It was like dealing with children. “Lilith can’t break the last seal. Her death is the last seal. And it has to be by Sam’s hand. And do you really think anyone would tell him that before they sent him off to be her executioner?”

“So what? You just whisked him away somewhere to keep him prisoner forever?” Dean asked indignantly. 

“Essentially. Though I don’t know if you would call him a prisoner per se,” Gabriel said with a shrug. 

“But now you’ll bring him back?” Dean asked suspiciously remembering the favor he mentioned. 

“Not hardly. I’m not about to take any chances with the end of the world. I’m here to take you to him…if you want me to that is.” Gabriel suspected that Dean would be far more difficult than Sam if taken against his will and he really didn’t need the headache. Sam was rather pleasant. Dean was just a pain in the ass. 

“I get a choice?” Dean asked incredulously. 

“You being here won’t end the world. The invitation is merely a courtesy so yes you get a choice.”

“Why?” he asked narrowing his eyes. Why would the trickster bother?

“Does it matter?” Gabriel asked raising an eyebrow. 

Dean thought about that for a minute. The trickster had a point. Dean didn’t really care why he was doing it. It wouldn’t make a bit of difference. “Where would I be going?” he asked trying to wheedle some information out of him. 

Gabriel saw right through him though and saw fit to clarify their position. “Just so you know, if you say no you won’t remember this conversation at all. I’ll leave you to keep searching for your brother with no idea where he is so if you’re planning to get information to have your little angel friend attempt a prison break it won’t work.” Dean’s eyes narrowed even more but he didn’t withdraw the question so Gabriel answered it. “A beautiful little tropical island. A little slice of paradise. Sam really enjoys it there.”

“Oh he does, does he?” Dean asked. 

“Sure thing. Have a look,” Gabriel said gesturing at the television and an image of Sam throwing the Frisbee on the beach with Oreo came up, followed by him standing on the cliffs, then playing in the water park, then walking down the beach with a woman on each arm. “He tried to escape a few times at first, but once he realized it was futile, he managed to settle in.”

“And you’re saying I can go visit?” Dean asked confused again as to why the little being was doing this. He couldn’t deny that Sam looked happy, assuming this wasn’t all a trick and Sam wasn’t really locked in a dungeon somewhere. 

“On the contrary. If I bring you there, you can never leave. Just like Sam. Hence the reason I’m giving you a choice,” Gabriel said raising an eyebrow. 

“Lilith is still out here breaking seals and I’m the only one who can stop her,” Dean told him. 

“Oh please,” Gabriel rolled his eyes. “Like one little human can possibly do anything that the entire might of heaven can’t. You’re being played. They’re using you to try and get to Sam. How long do you think it will be before they send you right back to hell once they realize that you’re no use to them?”

“Why would heaven want to release Lucifer?” Dean asked. 

“So that Michael can kill him. See the way it works…or is supposed to work anyway…Lucifer gets sprung, Michael kills him destroying the world in the process, then the planet is given to the angels as a reward and they make their own private paradise. Or of course, Lucifer gets sprung, he kills Michael, again destroying the world in the process, then he takes over the planet and creates hell on earth, but heaven is confident that they will win. A serious case of overconfidence if you ask me, not that anyone would.”

Dean just blinked in shock. It made sense in a weird kind of way, and would totally fit with the way his life went. It explained why Cas was so gung-ho about helping him find Sammy at least. His big obstacle was actually trusting the trickster and who would have thought that would ever be an option. He was desperate for news of his brother though, and on the off chance that this was for real, could he really turn his back on the chance to have his brother back? Worst case scenario, maybe the two of them could escape where Sam couldn’t on his own. “Can I have some time to think about it?” 

“Sorry Deano. One time offer. Once I leave I’ll never be back and you’ll never remember,” Gabriel told him. He wasn’t going to give the hunter a chance to go running to Cassie and spilling his guts. 

“I won’t even remember what you said about the seals and Lucifer and being used?” Dean asked nervously. At the very least he didn’t want to forget that. True or not he would need to be on his guard. 

“Nope. Too many questions about where the information came from. Memory modification is tricky. Leave a thread and it can be followed to the rest.”

Dean narrowed his eyes. He was still trying to get over the whole trusting the trickster issue. The idea even sounded stupid in his head and that was saying something. Usually he didn’t realize the stupidity of an idea until it was already out. “How do I know that any of this is even real?” 

Gabriel considered his response here. This was his last chance to back out of this idiotic situation. He could say it was all a joke and disappear, but then he was right back to square one. Or he could do something completely out of character and be serious enough to convince the hunter. There really was only one option. He looked Dean directly in the eye and said solemnly, “I swear to you on all that is holy to me that every word that I’ve said here has been a hundred percent true.”

Dean narrowed his eyes suspiciously. He wasn’t stupid enough to completely believe it, but he had to admit that it was convincing and if he was right… “Okay. Let’s do this then.”


	24. Chapter 24

The next thing Dean knew he was standing on a beach next to the trickster. “Where’s my brother?” he asked annoyed, noticing the conspicuous absence. 

“I thought we should go over a few things first…” Gabriel started only to be interrupted. 

“The hell we will. Take me to my brother,” Dean said heatedly. He wasn’t in the mood for any more games. 

Gabriel just shrugged. “If you insist.” They reappeared back in a living room where Sam was eating a bowl of cereal and watching television since Gabriel left without cooking breakfast. 

“Sammy!” Dean cried happily, causing his brother to drop his entire bowl, spilling cereal everywhere and Gabriel just chuckled and snapped his fingers cleaning up the mess. 

“Dean?” he asked in disbelief looking to Gabriel for an explanation. 

“You have your brother back. Happy now?” Gabriel asked slightly bitterly. 

“But…is he…”

“It’s really him,” Gabriel said rolling his eyes. Sam crossed the room in three strides pulling Dean into a bruising hug. “So why don’t you help Deano get the lay of the land and all while I go handle some last minute business,” he suggested. There were still a few things he would like to get out of the way before he was trapped here forever. 

“Does he know…” Sam trailed off not wanting to spill any secrets he wasn’t supposed to, but wanting to know what he could and couldn’t say. 

“I’m not going to ask you to keep any secrets from your brother. What you tell him is up to you,” Gabriel said as he disappeared. It’s not like he would ever be able to tell another soul and having to tiptoe around secrets on this small island with only three occupants would be a royal pain. 

“Sammy! Are you okay? How have you been? I can’t believe he’s been keeping you trapped here for months!”

“I’m great Dean. Really. It’s amazing here. Not too thrilled about being trapped for the rest of my life with no contact with the rest of the world, but hey. If it saves the world I can deal,” Sam told him. 

“You’re actually okay with this? With being stuck in one of the trickster’s stupid games? How do you even know he’s for real?” Dean asked incredulously. 

“I…well…he’s not actually a trickster,” Sam said nervously, knowing full well how Dean would respond to this part. 

“What do you mean he’s not a trickster?” Dean asked. 

“He’s actually an archangel. Gabriel to be exact.”

“Oh and he told you this did he,” Dean rolled his eyes wondering how his brother could be so gullible. 

“No, actually. I figured it out.” Dean looked at him skeptically so Sam explained. “There was an…incident…that kinda…forced his wings to show. He freaked out and disappeared, but I got ahold of a few feathers, spent a day and a half holed up in the library, and archangel was the only thing that fit. When I confronted him about it, he went and got blind drunk. So yeah. He’s legit.” When Dean didn’t argue any more Sam felt free to ask his own questions. “The real question is how are you alive?”

“Angels pulled me out of hell and we’ve been looking for you for weeks,” Dean told him. 

“Let me guess. You had a fit and demanded they help and they just jumped at the chance.” 

“Yeah. That was a little too easy,” Dean admitted sheepishly. “Numbnuts says they needed to use me as bait to find you.”

“That makes sense. They would have figured that you being back would bring me running. And it would have if I had known or if I hadn’t been trapped here. So it’s a good thing I was.”

“He said you tried to escape?” Dean asked. 

Sam chuckled. “Yeah. See we’re on an island. The nearest land was more than a thousand miles away and for five hundred miles in every direction it’s a dead zone for boats, planes, helicopters etc. I tried though. I built a raft and headed out. Right up until a wave dumped me in the water into a school of nasty jellyfish and Gabe had to fish me out of the ocean just before I drowned.”

“So you just gave up?” Dean asked. He didn’t think Sam would give up after just one attempt. 

“Mostly. I tried making a sign on the beach that said ‘help’ big enough for anyone to see it, even from a plane, but by that time Gabriel had explained why I was here and he even saved my life a few more times so yeah. I decided it would be better to just live with it, though it was a while before I stopped trying to talk him into letting me leave.”

“So you’re saying that unless he lets us go, we’re trapped forever?” Dean asked realizing that attempting to escape really was futile. 

“Well I don’t know about you, but yeah. I am.”

“Well he told me that if I came then I could never leave so I guess I am too,” Dean said defeated. He had really been counting on getting them both out, but knowing now that their captor was an archangel and had them so effectively cut off really made it sink in. He had already checked his phone to find no service. He would try praying to Cas, but he doubted an archangel would overlook such an obvious loophole. 

“Ok then there are a few things you need to know. First there are wards keeping away all dangerous sea life that extend ten miles out so you can swim freely in the ocean, but I personally prefer the water park.” Sam had yet to get back in the ocean after his near death experience. Dean’s demeanor perked up at the idea of a water park. “The dirtbikes and ATVs in the garage are a little touchy on the accelerator and go extremely fast so be careful.” Dean was starting to think it might not be so bad here. “And there is only one real rule. Don’t hurt the dog.”

“The dog?” Dean asked. He hadn’t really paid much attention to anyone other than Sammy since he got here so didn’t notice the dog lying in the corner of the couch. At the word ‘dog’ though he picked his head up over the edge, wagging his tail, and gave a little yip, almost like a ‘hello’. 

“That’s Oreo. Gabe won’t hesitate to kill you if you hurt him,” Sam told him seriously. “Come on. I’ll give you a tour of the island.” Sam said heading for the door and giving a whistle for Oreo to follow. 

 

Later that evening:

Zachariah stood there glaring at Castiel. “So let me get this straight. Not only have you completely failed to find the abomination, but now you have lost the one brother we actually had control over and you’re too incompetent to find him yourself?” 

“He has completely disappeared from any method of sensing I have. It is as if he no longer exists at all.” Castiel explained. 

“I will inform Michael of your failures. Perhaps he will clean up your mess.”

Castiel, ever the soldier, just looked Zachariah in the eye and said, “Thank you brother.”

 

Gabriel cursed as he watched that. If they were bringing Michael into it already he better book it. It wouldn’t take long for his big brother to realize that only another archangel could effectively hide them from him, and from there it was just a hop skip and a jump to the glaring fact that Gabriel was still alive and then every being in heaven, hell, and earth would be looking for him. By the time Zachariah returned to inform Castiel that he had been demoted and that Uriel would take his place leading the garrison, Gabriel was long gone.


	25. Chapter 25

Sam had asked Gabriel for an alarm clock when he first got here because it bothered him trying to sleep without knowing the time. This was the first time he used the alarm function though. He had spent an enjoyable day with his brother, touring the island and getting caught up though Dean was conspicuously silent about hell. Gabriel hadn’t shown back up though and as much as Sam enjoyed being with his brother, he felt like things with Gabriel had been left balanced on a precipice and it had him on edge. 

The alarm went off a little before sunrise and Sam slid on his shoes and headed outside towards the cliffs. He knew if he was going to find that archangel anywhere it would be there at sunrise, and sure enough, Gabriel was standing there looking out at the horizon. He didn’t have any reaction to Sam’s presence though the hunter was sure that Gabriel knew he was there. He decided to take a chance and stepped up behind the archangel, keeping a little distance between them, but putting his hands on Gabriel’s hips. “Thank you,” he said softly. 

Gabriel suppressed his sigh. When he had heard Sam come up he had hoped that the hunter just wanted to see the sunrise again. It seemed that his hopes were in vain. “What do you want from me Sam?” he asked tiredly. 

“What do you mean?” Sam asked confused. He wasn’t sure where he had gone wrong this time. 

“I get that you need love and attention and all. That’s why I brought your brother here. So you would stop trying to fabricate feelings for me. I know it’s not really the same but I thought it would be good enough.”

Sam blinked for a moment as he figured out what Gabriel was saying. “You think I’m trying to fabricate feelings for you?” was the main thing he took from that. 

“Obviously. I mean I get that I’m the only option and all, but that doesn’t make it right.”

Sam knew that his feelings were found out, even if the archangel was wrong about the source of them. “That’s not…I’m not…” He sighed. The only way out was through. “I do have feelings for you Gabriel. Not fabricated ones. Real ones. I didn’t intend to. In fact, I tried not to. I know how you feel about that kind of stuff, but I can’t help it. I’m sorry if that bothers you,” he finished sadly and turned to go only to find his hand caught again. There were no words to accompany the action this time and Sam paused for a moment waiting for some before he gave up and moved back behind Gabriel and chanced sliding his arms around the archangel’s waist. When he wasn’t pushed away he smiled and rested his cheek against the top of Gabriel’s head and Gabriel leaned back slightly against him. 

Gabriel was full of all kinds of turmoil at the moment and he needed to work it out, but he knew he didn’t want Sam to go. Could he really allow this? Could he really let himself feel something again? Could he let himself love? It seemed like ever since the damn hunter arrived he’d done nothing but tug on Gabriel’s heartstrings that he hadn’t even thought existed anymore. It was a long time before Gabriel broke the silence, repeating his earlier question. “What do you want from me Sam?” 

Sam realized that this time Gabriel wanted an answer so he did his best to give him one. “I want to know you Gabriel. I want you to let me in. Beyond that, I’ll be happy with anything more you want to give.” He wasn’t going to ask for a relationship or for feelings that Gabriel couldn’t or wouldn’t reciprocate. 

“My psyche isn’t exactly a pleasant place to be Samsquatch,” Gabriel half-joked trying to lighten the mood. 

Sam didn’t let him deflect this time though. He could tell that Gabriel was waffling, that he was winning. If he let the archangel push it aside now, then he would never get through. He just held him tighter and whispered. “I don’t care.”

“Sam…” he said with a hint of warning. “If I let myself go there. If I open that door. There’s no going back. So you better be damn sure.” Gabriel’s heart was beating a mile a minute. He couldn’t believe he was even considering this. 

“I’m sure Gabe,” Sam said softly without hesitation.

Gabriel took a deep shaky breath before turning in Sam’s arms and pressing his lips softly against the hunter’s as his arms wrapped around Sam’s neck. One of Sam’s arms stayed wrapped around the archangel’s lower back while the other came up diagonally so that his hand was on Gabriel’s shoulder and he crushed the smaller man as close to himself as he could manage, pouring every feeling he could into the slow, sweet kiss. 

It was a long time before they broke apart and Sam rested his forehead against Gabriel’s, eyes closed, as he just drank in the moment. “Sam…” Gabriel breathed out before being interrupted by a loud voice. 

“SAM! WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?!” they heard coming from the woods. Sam gave a heavy sigh. In hindsight, disappearing like that right after Dean had finally found him again probably wasn’t the best idea, but really. Where would he go?

“Gabriel…” Sam started to say before Gabriel’s lips pressed against his again briefly. He didn’t want this to end. 

“Tonight, Sam,” Gabriel whispered. 

Sam gave a half-smile and a nod just as the voice called again. “SAMMY!?”

“UP HERE!” Sam yelled back, not letting go of Gabriel. He had no intention of hiding this from Dean. Like Gabriel he realized that this island was too small for big secrets. 

Gabriel knew what he was doing and he appreciated the thought, but he wasn’t about to allow Dean Winchester to see him all doe eyed, so he plastered a smug smirk on his face and waited until Dean had them in sight before he pressed a quick hard kiss to Sam’s lips, slapped his ass, and drawled, “Catch you later sexy,” and then disappeared with a wink at Sam. 

The corners of Sam’s lips started to twitch as he fought with his laughter. That was so typical Gabriel. Not only that, but he’d made it clear with that one move that the softer side of him was for Sam’s eyes only and set the entire tone for the public aspect of their relationship. Plus, the look on Dean’s face was priceless. He was frozen in place with a look somewhere between shock, anger, relief, and acceptance. “Geez Dean. I just went out for a little walk. No need to have an aneurism,” Sam said in an effort to lighten the mood and okay. Maybe Gabriel was rubbing off on him just a little bit. 

He strolled back by his sputtering brother clapping him on the shoulder as he said. “Come on. Gabe’s probably making breakfast. We don’t want to miss it.”


End file.
